This study explores the formation of relationships for food redistribution that enhance circularity at the end of the food supply chain. Drawing on interviews from eight companies on the supply side and 10 organisations on the demand side in the Finnish context, this article categorises two types of relationships: ongoing redistribution and sporadic redistribution – and two relationship phases – the establishment of new relationships, and relationship imbalance. The findings reveal the roles and motivations that supply and demand-side actors have in the process of recovering surplus food, while also showing that current practices are not optimal for food recovery. In particular, the findings highlight that surplus food redistribution is driven by supply availability requiring high responsiveness from the demand side in order to recover food products. Finally, the results are synthesised into a framework that presents improvements to surplus food recovery.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), approximately 17 per cent of global food production is wasted. Food waste is highly unethical considering that 820 million people in the world suffer from food deprivation. The EU Directive 2018/851 aims to reduce per capita food waste by 30% by 2025 and 50% by 2030 due to the negative environmental, social, and economic consequences of wasting food. 

Click here to read the study.