Tesco partners with OLIO to cut food waste

Following a successful trial, Tesco has teamed up with social enterprise and food sharing app OLIO to help reduce food waste in stores and feed more people in crisis.

The scheme works with the help of OLIO’s 8,000+ local volunteer ‘Food Waste Heroes’ who visit Tesco stores to collect surplus food nearing its sell-by date. The food is taken back to their homes, with the items immediately uploaded onto the OLIO app, ready to be re-distributed free to those living nearby as well as to community groups. OLIO app users can then pick items up, from an agreed, contact-free collection point and because of social-distancing measures needed right now food items can be left in a front garden or wall outside someone’s house.

During the trial at the 250 Tesco stores that had the most surplus food, the scheme resulted in nearly 195,000 portions of food being saved, enough to feed 4,200 people. Held between December and February, 36 tonnes of food were redistributed during the trial.

IGD