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Cross-industry AI initiative hoped to slash food waste

An artificial intelligence (AI) tool pilot involving Nestlé is hoped to reduce food waste and ensure surplus products find a home quickly.

The UK wastes 10.7 million tonnes (Mt) of food every year – 25% of all food purchased, government statistics show. Most food waste (60%) comes from households, followed by farms (15%), manufacturing (13%), hospitality and foodservice (10%), and retail (2%).

Efforts to reduce this waste – saving billions of pounds and millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions – have faltered in recent years. Too few food businesses have started measuring, reporting, and acting on their food waste, according to Wrap, a charity that runs the UK food waste reduction roadmap.

But can AI help accelerate progress? Absolutely, according to a new project involving Nestlé, the world’s largest food manufacturer, and the food redistribution charity FareShare.

The AI food redistribution pilot will use Zest’s (formerly The Wonki Collective) integrated AI-powered platform to connect food manufacturers, logistics providers, and charities in a bid to “streamline” and “accelerate” the process of matching available surplus food, including products and ingredients, to where there is demand.

Some 700 tonnes – the equivalent of 1.5 million meals – is expected to be redistributed, saving up to 1,400 tCO2e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) and £14 million. Earlier trials delivered an 87% reduction in edible food waste at a single Nestlé factory over a two-week period.

“This exciting cross-industry initiative builds on work we have undertaken over the last decade to tackle food waste and will enable us to further optimise surplus within our operations,” explained Emma Keller, head of sustainability at Nestlé UK and Ireland.

Over 8,000 charities and community groups across the UK already rely on food redistributed by FareShare.

“By unlocking new efficiencies in systems, we will be able to get more food to those groups and create greater social impact,” said the charity’s director of food, Simon Millard.

Surplus food supply must be streamlined

Once tested, the new tech-led solution could be applied at scale across the food supply chain, and offers commercial and charitable opportunities for the entire sector.

This pioneering project is “just the start, laying the foundation for future innovations that will drive circular economy models and advance sustainability efforts”, added Esra Kasapoglu, director of AI and data economy Innovate UK, which is part-funding the initiative.

Streamlining of the process is crucial if surplus food is to make it to charities and other businesses (which upcycle unwanted ingredients) in time.

Indeed, in March, a Feedback and Foodrise report detailed how UK supermarkets were dumping damaged, out-of-date, and nutritionally inadequate food to aid organisations.

“We need to stop kidding ourselves that food poverty can be solved by food waste and vice-versa, and start addressing the root causes of both to the benefit of people and planet,” said Foodrise deputy director Jessica Sinclair Taylor at the time.

Food industry support for food waste reports

Pressure is mounting on food businesses to clearly report their food waste tonnages. Laws to enforce mandatory reporting have been in limbo for years in the UK, with the government currently mulling over the idea following consultations.

In October, more than 30 food and drink businesses including Tesco, Danone, Prices, Quorn, Yoplait, and Nestlé publicly called on ministers to introduce mandatory reporting laws.

“At the heart of the delay is political will,” wrote Adam Isaacs, public affairs manager UK and Ireland at surplus food marketplace Too Good to Go, which coordinated the open letter.

Indeed, when the government consulted on the idea in 2022, two-thirds of large businesses backed it. Businesses that do report on food waste have cited various benefits, both environmental and economic from their work.

Nestlé is in the process of formalising how it quantifies food waste in its reporting, according to its 2025 non-financial

report. Total “biomass” wasted globally by the company is almost 1.2 Mt, up from just over 1 Mt in 2023.

“The increase in total weight of waste generated is mainly driven by the change in product portfolio mix,” the owner of KitKat, Nesquik, and Maggi explained.