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CI Co-op are the latest business to join the Olio food-sharing revolution with two of their biggest supermarkets giving away their food-surplus so they can be redistributed to islanders via an app.
The Grand Marché in St. Helier and St. Peter have joined the list of 11 businesses who are trying to put an end to food waste on the island.
Launched in the UK in 2015, the Olio app was brought to the island in May by a self-proclaimed foodie, Elis Joudalova. She wants Jersey to be "the first Island without food waste". Ms Joudalova has been knocking on the doors of various shops to convince them to share their food surplus. She has also been recruiting volunteers, who go to those shops to collect the unsold food. The hours, which by her own admission, are "very long", seem to have paid off: in the past two months, she's convinced 13 shops and more than 17 volunteers to help save hundreds of items from the bin daily.
The shops that have joined so far:
But Ms Joudalova, Olio's 'City Champion' in Jersey, was especially proud to announce the CI Co-op had joined the scheme. She said: "Co-op is one of the first businesses I contacted. It was always one of the main ones I wanted on board because they have so many shops and are one of the oldest business. They are very involved with the community through the memberships and the shares so I thought they were a good business to talk to. A lot of people wanted to see them in as well so I'm really happy we made it happen."
Mark Cox, Chief Operating Officer at the Co-op, explained: "We have been trying to reduce the amount of food that goes to waste. The only issue we had was concerning logistics and we tried to work around this. We work with local charities who come to collect some of the food but we always thought there was more we could do. This is why Olio is a good fit for us because it deals with the logistic issues we were having. It is the community working together as volunteers collect the food which is then redistributed to people who need it.
"We have strategies in place to minimise the amount of food waste we produce. We will try to sell as much as possible and will reduce items that are close to the 'best before' date in store. There are still various items that are not bought and even past that date, they always seem to create some interest on the app."
While only two of the Co-op shops have joined, Mark Cox says it is a start and that more might join later, once they have had the chance to get used to the scheme. He says: "We have 12 shops locally. We are working in conjunction with the Olio with those two shops for now. All the managers were definitely supportive. They were all in agreement that working with Olio was the right thing to do."
Pictured: A sample of the food surplus that was rescued over the weekend by Olio volunteers.
The first collection at the Co-op took place last weekend with dozen of packets of crisps, bottles of water, bread rolls and other items which are still good to eat days after the 'best before' date. They were then shared on the app to over 1,200 local users and redistributed to those who requested them.
In a bid to completely eradicate food waste on the island, Ms Joudalova has also got in touch with the Animals' Shelter to offer them any fruit and vegetables that haven't been redistributed before the 'use by' date. The shelter have welcomed the idea as they say it will help them save a few pennies.
Pictured: Ms Joudalova wants Jersey to be the first island without food waste.
But Ms Joudalova says there is more coming, as a lot of businesses have shown interest and she is planning to convince all supermarkets on the island to join the 'revolution.' But she won't stop there, she also aims to get restaurants on board. "We don't have any of them yet but I would really love to see it happening. I am sure they have food they can't use but that could be shared with people who need it. If possible, I want to get all food outlets or businesses such as farms, catering companies, etc involved in the future."
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