Could an app be the answer to solving food waste? Tessa Clarke invented OLIO, a free mobile app that enables neighbours and businesses to share excess food. “Half of all food waste takes place in the home,” she explains. Based in the United Kingdom, Clarke is using her invention to bring households together and lessen the surge of scraps. “It's about recognising the fact that we have enough in our local communities if we just connect one another,” she says.
Accounting for about 10% of greenhouse gases, decomposing food waste has a hazardous impact on the environment as it releases methane. “Globally, a third of all the food produced each year gets thrown away,” Clarke says. In 2014 she launched OLIO to enable people to reduce the effects of waste in their neighbourhoods. “OLIO is all about hyperlocal,” Clarke says. “Over 60% of all the shares that take place are within a 10-minute walk.” With the app, users can publish a photo of the food they want to give away and organise pick ups. “If you want to solve the problem of food waste, then we need to give people an easy way to share their food,” Clarke says.
To date, over 30 million portions of food have been saved via the app worldwide. “OLIO has encouraged a culture of kindness,” Clarke says. “Knowing we are making a difference feels like life has a purpose and gives me a reason to get up every single day.”
Footage and photos by OLIO were used in the creation of this film.
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