Food Banking in Ukraine: How Supermarkets Will Pass Food on to Those Who Need Help
Ukraine is preparing a food banking system that should change the approach to products that remain unsold in stores. This concerns food, hygiene products, and household goods that are still suitable for use, but may be written off because their expiration date is approaching or because of other internal rules of retail chains. Under the new model, large supermarkets with an area of more than 400 square meters will have to cooperate with food banks. Such stores will pass on undistributed products to socially vulnerable people through special organizations, instead of sending them for disposal. The problem is not only that food is being thrown away. The problem is that this is happening in a country where millions of people need humanitarian and food support. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, food aid has become not a one-time charity effort, but part of survival for many families, elderly people, displaced persons, single mothers, and those who have lost a stable income.
According to the Ukrainian Federation of Food Banks, more than 2 million 700 thousand tons of food are disposed of in Ukraine every year. This is a huge amount of food, part of which could avoid ending up in the trash and become real help instead. Against this background, food banking looks not like a fashionable social idea, but like a practical mechanism that makes it possible to connect two problems surplus products in retail and food shortages among people. The Ukrainian Federation of Food Banks already has a working network. It includes five food banks and a National Hub. In 23 regions of Ukraine, 48 charitable organizations cooperate with the federation, and more than one thousand volunteers are involved in the work. During its activity, more than 4,700 tons of food have been delivered to people, and more than 2 million Ukrainians have received help.
These figures show that the basis for the system already exists. But the current scale still does not match the size of the problem. If millions of tons of food are disposed of every year, voluntary agreements with some partners are not enough. That is why the developed draft law on food banks should move food banking from the level of separate initiatives into a broader system with rules, obligations, and responsibility. The main change is the obligation of large supermarkets to pass suitable goods to food banks. This applies not to spoiled products, but precisely to those that can still be used safely. This approach is important because it does not put people’s health at risk and, at the same time, reduces the amount of food waste. Dmytro Shkrabatovskyi, chairman of the board of the Ukrainian Federation of Food Banks, stated the goal of the initiative directly:
“Our goal is to reduce the amount of food waste by 50%. And the adoption of this draft law will allow us to move toward achieving this goal.”
This is an ambitious figure, but it does not look detached from reality if the system works not formally. For this, several things are needed clear rules for transferring goods, logistics, responsibility for quality, quick sorting, proper storage, and cooperation between stores, food banks, and charitable organizations.
For supermarkets, this model may be inconvenient. It will require additional accounting, staff, internal procedures, and readiness to change the usual approach to writing off goods. Instead of a simpler scheme disposing of products and closing the issue stores will have to pass products to those who can distribute them among people. That is why the draft law provides not only responsibility, but also incentives. Retail chains that pass on products will be able to receive benefits. At the same time, fines should be introduced for disposing of food in cases where it could have been transferred to people’s needs. This approach creates a clear logic: if a product is still suitable, it should not be thrown away without reason.
European experience shows that business resistance at the start is possible. In Czechia, a similar law has been in force since 2018. Retail chains opposed it, went to court, but lost. Aleš Slavíček, chairman of the Czech Federation of Food Banks, explained this logic as follows:
“If products can still be used they must be passed on to people. In Czechia, this has been enshrined in law since 2018. The chains did not like this law they went to court, but lost the case.”
The Czech system today is one of the most developed in Central Europe. It has 15 regional banks, one large central hub, and 1,150 public organizations. Last year, the Czech food banking organization supported more than 400 thousand people, a significant share of whom were single mothers and elderly people. It managed to save and distribute 17.4 thousand tons of food.
For Ukraine, this experience is important not as a ready-made copy, but as proof that the system can work. If the rules are clear, business gradually adapts, charitable organizations receive a stable source of aid, and the state reduces both the social burden and the problem of food waste. At the same time, the Ukrainian model will have its own difficulties. The war complicates logistics, and different regions have different levels of access to warehouses, transport, and volunteer networks. In addition, products with a short shelf life must be transferred quickly. There can be no long approvals and bureaucracy here, because food has a limited time for safe use.
Public support for the initiative is high. According to a study by Active Group, 86.9% of citizens support it. This shows that for Ukrainians, the issue of food waste has long stopped being abstract. People understand a clear thing if food is still suitable, it should help, not be destroyed. Food banking can become for Ukraine not only a charity mechanism, but part of a new culture of responsibility. Its meaning is not limited to food packages. It is a question of respect for resources, responsible business, social support, and proper organization of processes in a country that faces the consequences of war every day. The main thing is not to turn a good idea into a complicated formality. If the law is adopted, but stores do not have a clear algorithm, food banks do not have sufficient logistics, and charitable organizations do not have stable support, the system will work weakly. But if the rules are clear, control is real, and incentives for business are tangible, Ukraine will be able to reduce the scale of senseless food destruction and, at the same time, support those who truly need this food.
Food banking will not solve all social problems, but it can close one obvious injustice suitable products should not end up in the trash when there are people nearby who need help.
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