Olio, the local sharing app, is launching a partnership with Whole Foods Market, supporting the natural and organic food retailer with food waste prevention at its stores in London.
Olio has been brought in after a successful six-week pilot scheme at its Kensington store. The initial trial saw Olio’s team of Food Waste Heroes collect over 1,200kg of edible food from Whole Foods Market – the equivalent of 2,800 meals – with the store feeding 439 local households and avoiding 5,000kg of CO2 emissions.
Whole Food Market’s London stores have committed to giving Olio’s army of Food Waste Heroes any remaining organic produce that is not taken by its local charity partners at closing time. The Food Waste Hero volunteers then use the Olio platform to help redistribute perishable food – including baked goods, delicious salads, deli counter items, meat, poultry and ready meals – to local households for free.
Launched in 2015 with the sole purpose of tackling food waste, Olio now has more than 7 million users worldwide, and a UK network of over 90,000 Food Waste Hero volunteers. Alongside Whole Foods Market, Olio also has major waste reduction partnerships with retailers and caterers such as Tesco, One Stop, Iceland, Pret a Manger, Compass Group, Restaurants Associates, Chartwells and Eurest.
This partnership forms a part of Whole Foods Market’s mission to do more for the planet and local communities and is just one of the number of ways that the retailer is promoting environmental stewardship. Whole Foods Market team members are trained on food waste efficiency, from smart ordering to food donation. The retailer annually donates thousands of meal’s worth of perishable and non-perishable food to local food banks and food rescue agencies across the London area as a part of their ongoing strategy to tackle food waste.
