Food wastage has become a global problem, with about 1.3 billion tonnes of food being wasted annually worldwide. This article highlights the efforts of OLIO- a local app gone international fighting against food wastage.

OLIO is a free food-sharing mobile app that has made a name globally for its fight against food wastage in a unique way. It provides people with a platform to list and share unwanted food that might otherwise get thrown away. The app has a simple interface where you list an available item with a picture and suitable description, followed by when and where to pick up the listed item. Tessa Clarke and Saasha Celestial-One, Co-Founders of OLIO, incorporated the company in 2015. The UK-based start-up is successfully running in fifty-nine countries worldwide with over three million users. OLIO upholds four fundamental values - inclusive, resourceful, caring, and ambitious. OLIO strongly believes in creating a world where everyone has enough food on their plate and reducing food wastage without harming the planet.

In an exclusive interview with Tessa Clarke, the Co-Founder and CEO of OLIO, explained the awe-inspiring journey of the app and its goals of food waste reduction.

OLIO has made quite an impact in the fight against food wastage. What was the inspiration behind this idea? How difficult was it to implement the idea?

“I’m a farmer’s daughter, and so have always hated throwing away good food. This is because I know from first-hand experience just how much hard work goes into producing it! As a result, the inspiration for OLIO came when I was moving country and found myself on moving day with some good food that we hadn’t managed to eat, but that I couldn’t bring myself to throw away. And so I set off on a bit of a wild goose chase to try and find someone to give it to, and I failed miserably. Through the whole process it seemed to me crazy that I should have to throw this food away when there were surely plenty of people within hundreds of metres of me who would love it, the problem was they just didn’t know about it. And so the idea of OLIO, a mobile app that connects neighbours to share food came about!

One of our biggest challenges in the early days was growing the user base with a marketing budget of close to zero! We overcame this thanks to our Ambassador programme which harnesses the passion and energy of thousands of volunteers to spread the word about OLIO in their local communities. At the moment we have over 50,000 Ambassadors and have reached over 4 million users, so it seems to be working well.

Another challenge that still continues is encouraging new users to take a ‘leap of faith’ and add a listing – it’s hard to believe, but over half of all food added to the app is requested in less than 30 minutes! So we ask absolutely everybody to just give it a try, and once they’ve experienced how fun and easy it is to share food with a neighbour they’re converted.”

Consumers often find it challenging to associate big businesses with sustainability. You have been collaborating with big companies. Do you think it is possible to achieve sustainability goals with big brands at a more significant level?

“I think it’s absolutely essential that big brands are involved in the sustainability movement – without them we won’t stand any chance whatsoever of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees. The most important thing though, is that they are transparent as they embark upon their sustainability journey, and that they avoid the temptation of greenwashing and therefore misleading consumers. It can also be hard for big brands to innovate or abandon old business models, so there’s a real opportunity for start-ups and established companies to collaborate, and that’s what will drive impact at scale.”

What are some obstacles that you perceive are hindering the reduction of food wastage?

“The first major barrier is the fact that most people don’t realise that in a country such as the UK, half of all food waste takes place in the home; this is in contrast to retail stores that generate just 2% of all food waste. This is incredibly counter-intuitive, and it’s a real challenge convincing people that what they do matters. The other barrier is the fact that a lot of people aren’t sure whether anyone will want their spare food or not, so that concern stops them from offering their spare. In terms of businesses, I think the major barrier to more decisive action is the fact that at the moment there’s no obligation to report food waste and so it’s largely a hidden problem. The minute food waste reporting becomes mandatory, we’ll see a massive shift in urgency from large corporates looking to eradicate it from their supply chains and stores.”

How do you maintain fair business and sustainability among different collaborations? What are some of your key priorities in the movement?

“Sustainability is in OLIO’s DNA, so it’s not difficult for us to maintain this focus. Where debate tends to arise though is around the topic of ‘profit with purpose’. At OLIO we passionately believe that the next business paradigm will be ‘profit with purpose’, although for many businesses this is still a very new concept.”

You work with businesses in different nations. Are there any striking differences you have noticed in the food movement at the regional level?

“What we’ve been struck by is the number of similarities, rather than differences! In fact we haven’t received any requests for product development that are unique to any particular market. The real differences lie however in terms of whether people are using OLIO more to share food or non-food items (e.g. in Latin America it’s mainly sharing household items) and also how people find out about OLIO.”

There is a difference between the food and wastage systems in developing and developed countries. Does Olio have any plans to enter markets in developing nations?

“Unfortunately food is being wasted all over the world. However in developing markets it tends to be via ‘food loss’ that takes place higher up the supply chain, usually due to harvest, refrigeration, transportation and storage issues. Whereas in developed countries the majority of food waste takes place at the consumption end of the supply chain. To date OLIO has been used in 59 countries to successfully share food, and we absolutely intend to continue expanding internationally until we reach our goal of 1 billion OLIOers by 2030!”

By Prerna Deep

Fighting Against Food Wastage with OLIO