Editor's View: Turning Surplus Into Supper – The Apps Rescuing Fresh Produce

Let’s be honest: when it comes to food waste, fresh produce gets the roughest deal. Perfectly edible fruit and veg are thrown away every single day, often just because they’re close to their date, a little bit “wonky”, or shops have over-ordered. The result? Mountains of waste, money down the drain, and a big hit to the environment.

Image courtesy of 'Too Good To Go'

But there’s a silver lining. Over the past few years, clever schemes have emerged to make sure this food actually makes it to people’s plates. Apps like Too Good To Go, alongside redistribution networks such as Olio and FareShare, are proving to be game-changers when it comes to rescuing fresh produce.

The Size Of The Challenge

The UK throws away a staggering 10.2 million tonnes of food every year across homes, shops, restaurants and farms. That waste is worth more than £22 billion annually, and fruit and veg are right at the heart of the problem. In fact, more than 170,000 tonnes of fresh produce is wasted in the supply chain alone each year, not even counting what goes in the bin at home or in hospitality.

This is exactly where surplus-saving schemes step in.

From “Magic Bags” To Veg Boxes

Too Good To Go came up with a brilliantly simple idea: if shops don’t know exactly what they’ll have left at the end of the day, they can sell a “Magic Bag” of surplus food via the app at a fraction of the price. Customers get a bargain, shops recover some costs, and good food gets eaten instead of binned.

Since launching in the UK in 2016, the app has saved more than 40 million Magic Bags through partnerships with over 40,000 retailers—everyone from Aldi and Greggs to Costa, Morrisons and SPAR.

Fresh produce plays a starring role here. Morrisons, for example, has saved three million surplus bags through its partnership with the app, rolling the idea out across more than 930 convenience stores.

Elsewhere, Lidl has its own version—the £1.50 “Too Good To Waste” boxes, packed with up to 5kg of fruit and veg that’s still perfectly fine but might not look shop-floor perfect.

And let’s not forget the redistribution giants. Tesco now channels around three million meals a month of surplus to charities and communities through FareShare and Olio, helping ensure fruit and veg that might otherwise spoil ends up feeding families instead.

Why It Matters For Fresh Produce

There are four really big reasons why these schemes are so important for fruit and veg:

Speed is everything. Fresh produce doesn’t hang around. These schemes provide a fast, local route to get perishable stock into people’s hands while it’s still good to eat.

They challenge cosmetic standards. By celebrating “wonky” or short-dated produce, they’re changing shopper expectations and helping farmers get more of their crops onto shelves.

They cut emissions. Every tonne of surplus food rescued saves around two tonnes of CO₂e compared with letting it rot. Multiply that by millions of portions and you can see the climate impact.

They save shoppers money. At a time when every penny counts, being able to pick up a bag of fruit and veg at half the price—or less—makes a real difference for families.

Moving Upstream

Interestingly, these schemes are also starting to catch surplus further up the chain. Too Good To Go has piloted “Parcels” so manufacturers can sell surplus directly to consumers—things like extra batches of salad or fruit-based snacks that would otherwise go to waste.

Retailers are also getting smarter. The East of England Co-op, for instance, has credited new technology with helping it save the equivalent of 1.8 million meals in just one year.

A Network Of Solutions

The truth is, no single app or initiative is the hero here. The real progress comes from lots of overlapping efforts working together:

• Discount bags and boxes sold direct to shoppers

  
  

• National charity redistribution networks

  
  

• Peer-to-peer sharing through apps like Olio

  
  

• Retailers stepping up their commitments to ensure unsold food is repurposed

Together, these approaches are helping the UK move closer to its national and global goals of halving food waste by 2030.

What Needs To Happen Next

There’s still work to do. We need to normalise surplus shopping so people see it as a smart choice, not a second-best option. Retailers and apps should connect their forecasting systems to make sure fresh produce automatically gets funnelled into the right channels before it spoils. And we need better tracking of exactly how much fruit and veg is being saved, so growers and policymakers know where to focus.

Finally, consistent government support and transparency from retailers will keep the momentum going.

The Bottom Line

Schemes like Too Good To Go are no longer just quirky apps—they’ve become part of the backbone of a more sustainable food system. By making it simple to buy surplus produce at a discount, and by linking retailers and charities into quick redistribution networks, they’re turning what was once a problem into a solution.

And the best part? Every apple, carrot or tomato saved is a win for the environment, a win for households, and a win for the industry. That’s a food story worth celebrating.