Farmers, fresh produce markets, food manufacturers and food retailers routinely generate surplus foods, meaning a food that is still perfectly edible and safe for human consumption, but exists, for example, because it has failed to meet aesthetic specifications, or is past its ‘sell by’ or ‘best before’ dates. Much of this food ends up as waste. If diverted in time, a sizeable share of this food can instead be redirected for human consumption, helping to alleviate hunger, and creating several benefits for the generating firms. Redirecting surplus food will also avoid the loss of significant amounts of energy, water and financial capital embedded in wasted food, and the greenhouse gases resulting from its decomposition at landfills. In this report, among the action points, it is suggested that landfill operators and municipalities can improve waste data collection and reporting on the volume, sources and characteristics of the food waste component at landfill. This information, in fact, can help to establish strategies to divert this food to surplus food activities prior to it degrading. In addition, other advice is aimed at policy-makers to avoid surplus food waste.