Pioneering food sharing app OLIO is bringing its innovative service to Bath and Bristol due to its strong ties with the South West, in a bid to help local residents reduce their food waste thanks to modern technology.
The technology start-up has announced that smartphone users throughout Bath will have access to the platform which gives local residents and businesses a simple way to reduce the food they waste.
OLIO, which topped the UK App Store shortly after its release in London last summer, is backed by a leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm whose investments include Spotify and Facebook.
The free app connects neighbours with each other and with local independent shops to share their surplus food.
This could include food nearing its sell-by date from shops, cafes and markets, spare vegetables from the allotment, cakes from an amateur baker or groceries from household fridges when people go away or move home.
Users simply snap a picture of the items and add them to OLIO for a neighbour to collect, be it from home, the store, an OLIO Drop Box, or another agreed location.
OLIO’s strong ties to the South West meant that Bath and Bristol were the logical next steps for the company’s expansion beyond London.
Co-founder Tessa Cook lives just outside Bristol and worked at Dyson for many years, while Bristol-based developers Simpleweb built the app and were the first investor in the start-up.
The social, economic and environmental case for action against food waste is compelling. Globally, a third of all food produced is wasted, and in the UK, households – which are responsible for half of all food waste – bin over £12bn of edible food per year, at a cost of £700 to the average family.
Food waste is also costly for local stores and councils, and ranks as one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases.
OLIO seeks to address these problems by combining cutting-edge mobile technology with the power of the sharing economy and an engaged local community.
OLIO was co-founded by ‘mums on a mission’ Tessa Cook and Saasha Celestial-One. Since launching in July 2015, OLIO has been used more than 100,000 times and was featured by Apple as a ‘Best new app’ in the App Store.
Cook explained: “The choice to come to the South West was an easy one. Not only because of our personal and professional connection with the cities, but also because Bath has such a vibrant forward-thinking community.
“Our mission is to help tackle food waste with the touch of a button – we’re thrilled with progress to date and are very excited about the positive impact OLIO can have in the city.”