Retailer Carrefour Kenya recently launched a large-scale partnership with Food Banking Kenya (FBK) aimed at redistributing surplus food to vulnerable communities, a move positioned at the intersection of sustainability, circular economy principles, and food security. The initiative, formalized through a newly signed memorandum of understanding, will see Carrefour supply edible surplus products to Food Banking Kenya for safe redistribution, helping to bridge two of Kenya’s most persistent challenges: rising food waste and deepening food insecurity.
Under the agreement, Carrefour will identify surplus food that meets safety and quality standards, from baked goods and dry groceries to long-shelf items, and transfer them to FBK for collection, sorting, and delivery through a network of accredited charitable organizations. Freshly baked goods will be collected and distributed daily, while dry products such as rice, cereals, and lentils will be dispatched within four days. The system is designed to ensure traceability, hygiene, and speed; key factors in reducing waste while ensuring that surplus reaches beneficiaries before expiry.
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The collaboration comes at a time when food waste has emerged as both an economic and environmental issue of growing urgency. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Kenya loses or wastes nearly 30% of its food supply annually, amounting to over USD 500 million in value. At the same time, more than 15 million Kenyans face food insecurity, made worse by erratic rainfall, inflation, and regional supply chain disruptions.
This dual crisis, surplus on one end, scarcity on the other, reflects a structural imbalance in food systems that partnerships like Carrefour’s seek to address through logistics innovation and private-sector engagement.
Christophe Orcet, Majid Al Futtaim Retail’s Regional Director for East Africa, described the partnership as a practical demonstration of “responsible retail.” In a statement, he emphasized that the initiative aims not only to cut waste but to create a transparent redistribution model that can scale sustainably. “For various reasons, food often goes to waste, yet much of it can be redistributed and repurposed to support those in need,” Orcet said. “By transforming surplus into support, we are reducing waste while strengthening Kenya’s food security.”
This framing aligns with the growing role of large retailers as catalysts for sustainability in Africa’s food systems. Traditionally, waste reduction has been viewed as a back-end issue, managed through landfill diversion or composting. However, Carrefour’s approach moves the intervention upstream, turning the redistribution of surplus into part of the company’s corporate sustainability strategy. The model not only prevents waste but also reduces the retailer’s carbon footprint, as food waste is responsible for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, primarily from decomposition and methane release.
For Food Banking Kenya, which already partners with producers, hotels, and smaller supermarkets, the agreement with a multinational retailer like Carrefour represents a major scale-up opportunity. The organization estimates that each ton of surplus food rescued translates into over 2,000 individual meals. With Carrefour’s national footprint, including stores in Nairobi, Kisumu, and Mombasa, the partnership could redirect thousands of tons of food annually.
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FBK Executive Director John Gathungu welcomed the collaboration, noting that it “proves that surplus can nourish communities in need,” while underscoring the importance of partnerships that combine operational capacity with accountability. The redistribution network will rely on digital tracking systems to verify volumes collected, destinations, and recipients, ensuring that every donation is logged and traceable. This level of documentation has become essential as Kenya moves toward implementing food waste reduction targets under the Sustainable Waste Management Act (2022).
The partnership also contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which calls for halving global food waste at retail and consumer levels by 2030. Kenya is among the first countries in Africa to include food loss and waste indicators in its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), linking waste management to climate mitigation. The integration of private-sector actors like Carrefour is therefore more than philanthropy; it’s an operational alignment with national and global policy frameworks.
Beyond the social benefits, the program has potential ripple effects across the economy. Reducing food waste lowers landfill volumes and waste management costs for municipalities while supporting informal sector livelihoods through food redistribution networks. For retailers, it reduces disposal expenses and reinforces customer trust at a time when sustainability credentials increasingly influence purchasing decisions. For the broader agricultural value chain, it encourages better stock management, cold-chain efficiency, and traceability, all essential to building a resilient food ecosystem.
However, the initiative also raises important considerations about scalability and regulation. Kenya still lacks comprehensive guidelines for surplus food donation, leaving questions around liability, quality assurance, and cross-county logistics. Experts have called for clearer “Good Samaritan” laws to protect donors acting in good faith from legal exposure, similar to frameworks used in Europe and North America. Moreover, maintaining nutritional quality throughout redistribution requires investment in storage and transportation, areas where private-public partnerships could make a difference.
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In this context, Carrefour’s collaboration with FBK serves as a practical case study for how the retail sector can integrate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles into daily operations. It mirrors similar programs by Carrefour in Egypt, the UAE, and France, where food donation has become a structured part of inventory management. For Kenya, the initiative sets a precedent for data-driven food recovery systems that align with both local realities and international sustainability standards.
The move also situates Carrefour within a growing regional shift toward circular retail models, where waste from one process becomes input for another. By institutionalizing redistribution, the company is effectively closing a loop, ensuring that resources already embedded in the food chain continue to deliver value socially and environmentally.
Looking ahead, the success of the Carrefour–FBK partnership will depend on transparency, community engagement, and the ability to build logistics networks that can sustain redistribution at scale. Yet its significance is clear: it transforms a persistent challenge into a structured, measurable opportunity for impact. As Kenya and other African nations confront the twin crises of hunger and waste, such initiatives demonstrate how the private sector can move beyond compliance to become an active partner in sustainable development.
