Churchill Square Partners with Food Sharing App OLIO
Churchill Square becomes the first UK shopping centre to partner with food waste app OLIO
Churchill Square today (10 January 2022) announces it is to become the first UK shopping centre to work in partnership with OLIO, the food sharing scheme. As part of its strategy to further reduce its waste output, the Brighton shopping centre will be working closely with its food outlets and any other relevant retailers to make any food, which would otherwise go to waste, available to the local community via the food sharing app.
OLIO is known for its work in tackling food waste, linking neighbours and businesses to give away rather than throw away surplus food. Since launch OLIOers worldwide have shared 35 million portions of food, which has had an environmental impact equivalent to taking 101 million car miles off the road, has saved 5.1 billion litres of water and has prevented 29k tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions.
The free app has gained over 37,500 signups in Brighton since 2015. OLIO has grown fivefold since the beginning of the pandemic, in terms of the number of listings on the app, and half of all food added to the app is requested within half an hour of posting, making it the ideal partner to ensure everything gets used up.
A year ago it launched an initiative with all 2,700 of Tesco’s stores, taking food nearing the end of its shelf life and redistributing it locally via volunteers known as Food Waste Heroes. As the first shopping centre partner, Churchill Square will adopt the same system and a Food Waste Hero will list items from Churchill Square’s food outlets, and stores which stock perishable items, making them available to people in the local area. The first brands to sign up for the launch include Costa, Top Dog, Churros, Millie’s Cookies and Auntie Anne’s. The shopping centre is in talks with all its tenants to find ways to minimise their wastage, so the list is sure to grow over the coming months.
Centre Director, Mark Buchanan-Smith said, “Churchill Square is constantly looking for ways to reduce waste, so collaborating with OLIO is a brilliant way to tackle food waste alongside the other initiatives we have implemented. Our work with OLIO will make us their first Shopping Centre Partner in the UK, demonstrating our commitment to leading the way in waste reduction in the sector.
“Food waste is a massive problem, and as highlighted at COP26 recently, the food sector is responsible for more than 30% of total climate emissions. It’s a problem we want to do our best to reduce. OLIO also offers numerous other benefits to the community including reducing loneliness and helping people to connect as well as tackling food poverty in the area. We’re delighted to work with them.”
Tessa Clarke, co-founder at OLIO said, “This is a fantastic new partnership, that we hope will pave the way for more shopping centres across the UK to sign up to OLIO’s Food Waste Hero programme. Aside from the clear planet-saving benefits that becoming a zero food waste retailer has, signing up as an OLIO partner brings businesses and communities together, working towards one sustainable goal. We look forward to getting to know more businesses and volunteers across Brighton.”
More about OLIO: https://olioex.com
OLIO is a local community app that connects neighbours with each other to help them share more, care more and waste less
OLIO has had successful shares in 61 countries in the world
OLIO is well known for its work in tackling food waste, linking neighbours and businesses to share surplus food that would otherwise go to waste. Half of all food added to the app is requested within half an hour of posting. A year ago it launched an initiative with all 2,700 of Tesco’s stores, taking food nearing the end of its shelf life and redistributing it locally via volunteers known as Food Waste Heroes. There are now over 35,000 Food Waste Heroes operating in the UK.
Since the beginning of the pandemic OLIO has grown five fold in terms of the number of listings coming onto the app. It has also passed the milestone of over 5 million community members, with half of these based in the UK.
Since launch OLIOers have shared 35 million portions of food, which has had an environmental impact equivalent to taking 101 million car miles off the road, has saved 5.1 billion litres of water and has prevented 29k tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions.
Since its launch six years ago, OLIO has broadened its offer to include the free sharing of household items such as toiletries, kitchen appliances, books, clothes and toys; as well as providing guidance on how to live more sustainably via its GOALS feature, which provides prompts on how to live in a more planet-positive way. To date the OLIO community have completed more than 1m goals to help save the planet.
The MADE marketplace is the most recent addition to the app, providing an opportunity for local makers to buy and sell homemade foods and handmade crafts; enabling its community to have a second income stream based on selling sustainable goods to those on the
