Supporting City Harvest to Tackle Food Waste and Food Insecurity in London

KCCF were delighted to join other volunteers at City Harvest HQ in West London to help pack surplus rescued food for deliveries to vulnerable communities across London.

Hunger remains a significant challenge in London. Although food price inflation has eased from the record highs seen during the cost-of-living crisis, food remains much more expensive than it was a few years ago. According to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, food prices are 2.2% higher than a year ago, and overall grocery prices are now more than 30% higher than they were in 2022. 

Food insecurity also remains high. The Food Foundation reported in 2025 that almost one in seven households with children (15%) experienced food insecurity, meaning families worried about running out of food, skipped meals, or could not afford a healthy and balanced diet. 

Added to this, one-third of food produced in the UK never reaches a plate. The London food industry throws away enough surplus food to create 13.3 million nutritious meals monthly, while Londoners miss an average of 9.2 million meals each month. 

Inspired by our Founder – His Majesty King Charles III, the Coronation Food Project is a ground-breaking response to an urgent and growing challenge to reduce food waste whilst also reducing hunger by working with the food industry.  

Established in 2014, City Harvest rescues nutritious surplus food from a variety of sources, including farms, manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers. The food is then sorted into pallets and delivered, for free, to over 130,000 people a week across 30 London boroughs via a network of over 300 organisations feeding those facing food poverty.   

With funding from KCCF in 2024, City Harvest is driving positive change in the food system and helping families and community groups to access the food and support they need to make their own futures more sustainable. Our funding has enabled City Harvest to rescue nearly 67 tonnes of food and provided over 180,000 meals.  

During our visit, we gained valuable insight into the challenges the charity faces with building capacity with limited resources and reliance on volunteers to keep their operations lean and efficient. We saw this first hand with a delivery of a huge glut of potatoes, which we helped to pack for redistribution along with tomatoes and cabbages. It was a humbling experience to see such nutritious produce, which might otherwise have gone to waste, given a second life. 

City Harvest’s work delivers environmental benefits by preventing edible food from entering landfill, reducing greenhouse-gas emissions while ensuring good-quality food reaches those most in need. 

KCCF’s partnership with City Harvest has also enabled them to expand their reach, invest in their operations and build relationships with local organisations, ensuring that surplus food is transformed into a valuable resource for vulnerable people and communities throughout the city. 

You can find out more about the work of City Harvest here.

Learn more about the Coronation Food Project here.