Tesco reduces waste with food-sharing app Olio

MORE THAN 12,000 meals have been saved from going to waste in Wokingham, thanks to Tesco and a food-sharing app.

In August last year, the popular supermarket partnered with OLIO, to provide unsold food for those in need in the local community.

OLIO’s Wokingham network for food waste heroes saved meals that people could put to use for themselves and their families.

This follows Tesco’s existing food donations programme, including its Community Food Connection scheme with FareShare.

OLIO’s food waste heroes collect food when charities supported by FareShare are unable to. The items are then uploaded onto the app, ready to be redistributed free to those living nearby and to community groups.

And app users can then pick items up from a contact-free collection point.

Claire De Silva, Tesco head of communities, said: “Tesco is committed to tackling food waste, and we were confident our partnership with OLIO would help with that, but its impact has exceeded all our expectations.

“For our partnership to have diverted more than five-million surplus meals from going to waste nationally shows the strength of the partnership between our store colleagues and OLIO’s food waste heroes.”

Since 2016, OLIO has provided more than 120 million meals to charities and communities across the UK, with more than five million coming from Tesco.

Co-founder of OLIO,

Saasha Celestial-One, said the partnership with Tesco has been a “huge success” this year.

“We’re incredibly proud to have delivered so many meals to communities across the UK that would have otherwise been wasted,” she said.

“But our work is far from done,” she added. “We hope this partnership encourages other businesses to follow suit and consider how they can take a more proactive approach to minimising waste and supporting communities.”

The company hasn’t sent waste to any landfill since

2009, and in 2013 it was the first UK retailer to publish its food waste data.