Over the last decade, and partly in response to Covid and the cost-of-living crisis, there has been a proliferation of groups repurposing surplus food in Oxfordshire, ranging from traditional food banks, food larders, and fridges, to mutual-aid networks, community kitchens and warm spaces. 

These groups use surplus food from Oxford Food Hub in a variety of different ways – as an integral part of their mission to redistribute surplus food, to free up funds to support other activities, as an “informal hook” to bring people together and by doing so reduce loneliness and improve mental wellbeing, or as a tool to teach or build self-confidence. 

But what all these groups have in common is that their use of surplus food plays a pivotal role in building community resilience. They connect people through shared concerns and collective action, creating bonds of trust that are essential when communities face economic and social hardship. 

These groups also empower communities to take ownership of local issues, engendering a sense of shared responsibility and enabling communities to influence decisions and policies that directly affect their lives. This allows them to create more sustainable, inclusive and adaptable places to live.

Some of the community groups and charities that Oxford Food Hub works with are not only addressing food insecurity by distributing or cooking good quality fresh food, but are also providing a plethora of wrap-around services, such as employment and health advice, mental health support, social connections, and educational skills. Many work with individuals with highly complex needs. 

By saving good food from being wasted and redirecting it to those who need it, these groups are also addressing environmental and social challenges. They reduce food insecurity, cut carbon emissions, ensure that resources stay in the community, and create opportunities for connection and collaboration. 

Activities carried out by Oxford Food Hub, and by its partners, such as surplus food pop-ups, bring people together, strengthen social ties, and provide safe, dignified spaces for support. These networks of trust are critical during times of crisis, when communities must rely on each other to adapt and recover.

Community groups also empower residents to become part of the solution. By involving volunteers, amplifying local voices, and fostering partnerships, they enable communities to advocate for fairer food systems and sustainable practices. 

Surplus food redistribution is therefore so much more than a response to waste or hunger—it is a catalyst for stronger, more resilient communities, especially in the context of local government cutbacks.

But such groups face numerous challenges, including a lack of funds and volunteers, unsuitable premises, and difficulties in accessing sufficient volumes of surplus food. There are, also, large pockets in Oxfordshire which have little or no presence of community organisations able to redistribute surplus food, or any other kind of food aid. 

Measures to empower local communities through the redistribution of surplus food

The government, as well as local authorities, can play a crucial role in enabling these grassroots organisations working with surplus food to thrive. 

The UK government has taken some important steps to increase the supply of surplus food. For example, in 2024, it announced a one-off £15 million Tackling Food Surplus at the Farm Gate Fund to support surplus food redistribution organisations to collect, store and deliver surplus food that might otherwise have gone to waste on farms. And in May 2026, it announced a programme to triple the amount of surplus food made available for redistribution.

Such efforts to increase the supply of surplus food should, however, go hand in hand with additional measures to ensure the viability of these more often than not small grassroots community organisations that work with surplus food. These groups play a vital role in cooking with or redistributing surplus food, but they often lack the funding, infrastructure, and recognition needed to operate effectively.

With the right support for these grassroots organisations, and in tandem with policies to increase the supply of surplus food and to reduce food waste, as highlighted in an earlier blog, the government could transform community-led surplus food redistribution from a stopgap and unsustainable response to food poverty into a systemic tool for community empowerment, environmental protection, and resilience-building:

• Provide long-term ring-fenced funding, either directly or through local authorities, to local community groups working with surplus food, including for (possibly shared) food processing facilities, community kitchens, refrigeration, and storage. 

• Fund training programmes for local community groups on safe food handling, nutrition, governance, and community engagement, as well as funds to support community leadership development, ensuring local residents drive how surplus food is used (e.g. communal meals, cultural food projects, and pay-as-you-feel cafes).

• Develop a national digital platform, in collaboration with technology companies, the food sector, and redistribution organisations, to improve collaboration and reduce inefficiencies in surplus food redistribution. This platform would serve as a portal for charities and community groups working with surplus food.¹https://fareshare.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Wheres-the-Food-FareShare-Manifesto-190724.pdf

Oxfordshire County Council and the county’s five lower-tier authorities – Oxford, Cherwell, South Oxfordshire, Vale of the White Horse, and West Oxfordshire – also have a role to play in supporting community groups working with surplus food. Oxfordshire has had some successes in this respect:

• In July 2026, the county was awarded the Sustainable Food Places Gold Award, a national accreditation scheme run by the Sustainable Food Places network. The award is a recognition that the county is “a national leader in building a food system that’s fair, healthy, and sustainable for everyone”, and that it has “taken genuine cross-sector action to tackle the big, tangled issues around food: environmental impact, health, social justice, and economics”²https://gfo.org.uk/blog/oxfordshire-wins-sustainable-food-places-gold-awar/. 

• Oxfordshire County Council supports the Community Action Group (CAG) network. The CAG consists of over 100 local groups that promote sustainability projects, including food redistribution, waste reduction, and community cohesion³https://www.cagoxfordshire.org.uk.

• The districts, in conjunction with Good Food Oxfordshire, have developed Food Action Plans. These include measures such as funding for surplus food redistribution groups, training and resources for community food networks, and working with community partners to develop surplus food-based cooking projects⁴ https://goodfoodoxford.org/food-strategy/.

But there is more that could be done by local authorities in Oxfordshire to embed surplus food redistribution in local strategies. This would strengthen community resilience not just by funding services, but by removing barriers, sharing resources, and recognising the vital role of grassroots groups in tackling both environmental and social challenges:

• Fully incorporate surplus food redistribution and support for community groups working with surplus food into the Food Action Plans to better shape policies on waste, food insecurity and community wellbeing.

• Provide more grants or seed funding for groups to start or scale initiatives through simplified funding applications to make them more accessible to small organisations.

• Offer in-kind support to community groups such as free or subsidised premises, storage, kitchens, and refrigerated vans, as well as shared infrastructure so multiple small groups can process surplus food.

• Embed surplus food redistribution in procurement policies, ensuring that, for example, schools prioritise suppliers that donate surplus food to charities.

• Develop public campaigns to destigmatise surplus food as environmentally responsible and socially positive, to promote surplus food initiatives to make them part of mainstream household habits, and to support volunteer recruitment drives to highlight surplus food redistribution as a climate action opportunity.

• Lobby central government, via the Local Government Association and Oxfordshire MPs, for longer term funding streams for local community groups working with surplus food, and champion surplus food in countywide sustainability fora.

As this and our previous blog have shown, when we rescue surplus food, we protect both the planet and our local communities. For our next blog, we are shifting our focus from community action to daily habits with a look at how to minimise household waste, which accounts for around 60% of all food waste in the country. We’ll explore what food retailers can do, as well as simple changes to our shopping, cooking and storage habits that can prevent waste from happening in the first place.