HaveyoudownloadedtheOlioapptoyourphone?It’slikea Freecycleforsurplusfood,
and it hit two million users this year. With food waste a huge issue and Christmas fastapproaching, there’s never been a better time to share what you don’t want (or need) online
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oaves of bread, fresh basil,
a tin of mushy peas, toffee
popcorn... These are just
some of the items up for grabs on
a cursory look at the food sharing
app Olio. All are offered for free, by
people living within a few miles.
App users list their unwanted food- the spoils
of a fridge
clear-out when
going away
on holiday,
a glut of
home-grown
veg or products
someone isn’t
keen on – to be
requested and
picked up by others living nearby.
Obviously food safety is a concern,
so terms and conditions are long.
There’s a growing appetite for the
service: since the app launched in
2015, six million food items have
been shared in over 50 countries,
with half of all items requested
within an hour of being listed on
the app. Household goods such as
toiletries, clothes and books can be
added, too. And it’s not just a trendy
metropolitan thing – in the UK, 70
per cent of activity is outside London.
Co-founder Tessa Clarke had a
lightbulb moment at the end of 2014
when, moving back to the UK from
Switzerland, she failed to re-home
food she couldn’t pack as she was WORDS: PHOEBE STONE. PHOTOGRAPHS: ANNABEL STAFFtoo nervous to knock on neighbours’
doors unannounced. “I’d been
working in digital for 15 years and
couldn’t believe there wasn’t an app
for that,” she says. She teamed up
with co-founder Saasha Celestial-
One (the name given to her by
self-described ‘hippy parents’),
to make the vision a reality.REMARKABLE GROWTH
Five years on, the lockdown had
an impact no one could have
foreseen. In April, Olio introduced
a no-contact pickup model and
sharing increased dramatically.
“We grew more in five weeks than
we had in five years,” says Tessa.
Some of this growth she attributesHow to beat food waste,
one jar of jam at a time
“Our objective is to
connect you with
a neighbour who you
might build a lifelong
friendship with.”
TESSA CLARKE, CO-FOUNDER