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.
Whole Foods Market is the latest high-profile brand to be added to Olio’s growing portfolio of corporate clients who are taking a stand against food waste. Tessa Clarke, Co-founder and CEO of Olio explains:
“We’re delighted to announce this partnership with Whole Foods Market. Olio users will be very happy to see another retailer taking steps to be even more sustainable and reduce food waste. Plus, Olio users living nearby to any of the Whole Foods Market stores will be delighted that they can now access high quality natural and organic produce through the app for free. This is positive news for those feeling the hardships of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and the recent food inflation increases that have caused grocery bills to skyrocket. Whole Foods Market is a fantastic partner for us and a great example of a retailer working hard to save perfectly good produce from going to waste.”
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.
Shaun Coombes, Executive Leader of Operations at Whole Foods Market, explains that “This partnership builds on our purpose ‘to nourish people and the planet’. It is now more important than ever to pull together to tackle food waste, and we are constantly exploring new ways to ensure we are delivering against this mission. This new partnership with Olio is one more step forward to ensuring any left-over perishable food ends up in the hands of those in the community who need it, rather than in landfill”.
