FareShare North East is delighted to announce that Northern Powergrid has joined the partnership between FareShare North East and Karbon Homes, helping turn an exciting vision into a reality.

Thanks to Karbon Homes’ initial pledge in January 2026 through their Social Value Fund, and now with the generous support from Northern Powergrid’s Social Impact Programme, FareShare North East is working with contractors to design and install a bespoke modular Clean Room.

Northern Powergrid is the electricity distribution network operator for the Northeast, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire, delivering power safely and reliably to 8 million customers across 3.9 million homes and businesses.

Beyond delivering vital network upgrades, the company is committed to investing in the people and places that help local communities thrive. From supporting local charities to helping create new spaces for communities to enjoy, its Social Impact Programme is guided by strengthening communities through the power it delivers and the positive legacy it leaves behind.

A Practical, Scalable Solution

The Clean Room is a fully modular, stand-alone food-safe environment that does not require building regulations. It can be dismantled, moved, and reassembled if required, giving FareShare North East the flexibility to respond to future growth and operational needs.

Many manufacturers and suppliers have surplus food in large-scale packaging, for example 10kg bags of pasta. While this pasta is perfectly good to eat, bulk products like this are often too large for community organisations and individuals to use.

Joe Dunne, Director of Social Enterprise at FareShare North East, holding a catering sized bag of pasta

The Clean Room will allow us to safely divide and repackage large catering packs of food into manageable quantities – making them more accessible to the charities and groups we support and unlocking hundreds of tonnes of nutritious surplus food that would otherwise go to waste.

The environmental and community impact of this project is substantial:

• 50 tonnes of surplus food redistributed in the first year
• Rising to 90 tonnes in year two
• And 130 tonnes in year three

In total, that’s the equivalent of 642,600 meals made possible, all from food that already exists and would otherwise risk going to waste.

By preventing this surplus from going to landfill or anaerobic digestion, the Clean Room will also save an estimated 548 tonnes of embedded CO₂ over three years, supporting the region’s net zero ambitions.

“The support of Karbon Homes and Northern Powergrid is helping us take a major step forward in the amount of surplus food we can rescue,” said Joe Dunne, Director of Social Enterprise at FareShare North East.

“With the final funding now secured, our new clean room will enable us to unlock hundreds of tonnes of good food for communities across the North East, while delivering significant carbon savings at the same time. We’re hugely grateful to our funders for recognising the potential of this project and helping us turn that ambition into something that will have a lasting impact across the region.”

Thank you!

We would like to thank Northern Powergrid and Karbon Homes for sharing our vision and helping make this project possible.

Together, we’re creating a practical solution that reduces food waste, increases access to good food and strengthens communities across the North East. It shows what’s possible when organisations work together to achieve incredible localised social and environmental benefits.

We will be sharing more updates in the coming months as the Clean Room takes shape.

FareShare North East has been awarded £20,000 over two years through The National Lottery Community Fund’s Awards for All programme, helping us strengthen and grow our volunteer programme.

The funding will support our Volunteer Engagement Officer to expand, diversify and enhance volunteering opportunities at our Newcastle warehouse, with a particular focus on people facing barriers to employment, including unemployed young people and people from underrepresented communities.

Our volunteers are at the heart of everything we do. Around 110 volunteers currently support our Newcastle warehouse, helping rescue good-to-eat surplus food and ensuring it reaches charities and community organisations across the North East. Quite simply, we could not operate without their dedication, commitment and hard work.

Our CEO, Jake Hanmore, said, “This funding is an investment in people. Every day, our volunteers make an incredible contribution to helping us tackle food waste and support local communities. Thanks to The National Lottery Community Fund, we’ll be able to strengthen our volunteer programme and ensure that more people, can access meaningful opportunities to develop skills, gain experience and realise their potential.”

Creating opportunities through volunteering

Through Awards for All, The National Lottery Community Fund invests in projects that bring people together, strengthen relationships and help communities thrive.

This funding will enable us to create more inclusive volunteering opportunities and provide tailored support that helps people build confidence, develop transferable skills and gain valuable workplace experience. By investing in volunteer development, we can ensure that people from a wide range of backgrounds feel welcomed, supported and able to thrive within our organisation.

For many volunteers, their time with FareShare North East is about more than giving back to their community. It is an opportunity to improve wellbeing, meet new people and take positive steps towards employment, training or further education. The experience, skills and confidence gained through volunteering can be life-changing for people looking to take their next step.

Our Volunteer Engagement Officer, Fran Elliott, said, “We have around 110 volunteers based at our Newcastle warehouse. They bring so much energy, commitment and enthusiasm to FareShare North East. This funding means we can invest more time in supporting them, developing new opportunities and making volunteering accessible to a wider range of people.”

We are incredibly grateful to The National Lottery Community Fund and National Lottery players for making this possible.

Get in touch!

If you are interested in volunteering with FareShare North East or would like to know more, please contact us.

Email [email protected]

Or, give us a call!

Newcastle 0191 447 6226

Middlesbrough 01642 630808

FareShare North East is delighted to announce that Karbon Homes has pledged £25,800 towards the creation of a new Clean Room at our Newcastle warehouse – a vital development that will significantly expand our ability to save good food from going to waste.

The pledge, made through Karbon’s Social Value Fund, represents half of the total cost needed to build and equip the modular, temperature-controlled facility. Once in place, the Clean Room will allow FareShare North East to safely decant and repackage bulk surplus food into smaller, more accessible portions, unlocking food that currently cannot be redistributed in its existing format.

This simple but powerful addition will be transformational for our regional operation, enabling us to make hundreds of tonnes of surplus food available to community organisations over the coming years.

However, to activate Karbon Homes’ generous donation, FareShare North East must first secure the remaining funding required.

FareShare staff at Clean Room in Nottingham.

A Step-Change in Food Rescue for the North East

The environmental and community impact of this project is substantial:

• 50 tonnes of surplus food redistributed in the first year
• Rising to 90 tonnes in year two
• And 130 tonnes in year three

In total, that’s the equivalent of 642,600 meals made possible, all from food that already exists and would otherwise risk going to waste.

By preventing this surplus from going to landfill or anaerobic digestion, the Clean Room will also save an estimated 548 tonnes of embedded CO₂ over three years, supporting the region’s net zero ambitions.

A Practical, Scalable Solution

The Clean Room is a fully modular, stand-alone food-safe environment that does not require building regulations. It can be dismantled, moved, and reassembled if required, giving FareShare North East the flexibility to respond to future growth and operational needs.

Seeking Partners to Bring This Project to Life

With Karbon Homes’ commitment already in place, FareShare North East is now inviting organisations to partner with us to secure the remaining funding and make this essential facility a reality.

“This investment from Karbon Homes opens the door to a step-change in our food rescue work,” said Joe Dunne, Director of Social Enterprise at FareShare North East.
“With the final funding secured, we can unlock hundreds of tonnes of good food for communities, while delivering significant carbon savings for the region.”

Organisations and stakeholders interested in supporting the project can find out more via the North East Combined Authority Carbon Marketplace:

https://marketplace.netzeronortheastengland.co.uk/hub/invest/168