'Food waste hero' starts sharing revolution in Jersey

Thursday 15 June 2017

The days of wasting food might soon be numbered in Jersey thanks to a new food sharing app.

One woman recently started a sharing revolution by becoming a local ambassador for Olio, a free app that aims to connect neighbours with each other, and with businesses, so that excess food can be shared, not thrown away.

Elis Joudalova, Olio's 'City Champion' in Jersey, wants the island to be the first one without food waste. To get there, she has been knocking on the doors of shops, restaurants, cafés and individuals to get them to share their food surplus.

Olio was launched by Tessa Cook and Saasha Celestial-One in July 2015 in north London as they were tired of seeing food go to waste.

Once you have downloaded the free app you can start posting unwanted items, and share them with others who might need them. The collection is arranged by private message, and all the food is given away for free. Since its launch, the app has already convinced 179, 707 users in 41 countries, who have shared 214,169 items of food. 

Pictured: Tessa Cook and Saasha Celestial-One, co-founders of Olio (Annabel Staff) 

A 'massive foodie' and graduate in sustainable tourism and hospitality management, Ms Joudalova says finding ways to manage waste is like a hobby for her. She told Express: "When I read about it I thought it was an amazing idea. It made so much sense. I wrote a heartfelt cover letter to the head office and they called me on Liberation Day and agreed for me to become the local ambassador. I immediately went to businesses and asked them if they would like to give their food surplus. I thought it was going to be hard but I was overwhelmed by the response."

Pictured: Olio enables users to share their unwanted food surplus with neighbours to eliminate food waste.

Zed Stott, store manager at Alliance Tesco and Mark Cilliers, the owner of Loaf and Big J, were the first ones to join up. They regularly share baguettes, fruits and vegetables, and other items which are past their 'best-before' date. Those items are then collected by the Olio volunteers who share them on the app and arrange collections with other users. 

Mr Cilliers, who says he is committed to lessen the impact of his business on the environment, explained that he was "passionate" to support Elis and Olio: "I am in the application stage of signing up to Eco Active and firmly believe that what we need to do is take action. Every business and individual can make a difference when we work together. Supporting Olio is a chance for us to stop talking and to actually make a difference and change the way we do things.

"Since getting involved we have been made aware of how much we waste! When you stand back and look at the bags of waste food it makes you reconsider how you are running your business."

For Mr Stott, it was a "natural perfect fit." "It is a win-win for everyone! We are only happy that what we can't sell is being reused and recycled. It helps people in financial difficulties and prevents products that are past the 'best before' from being thrown away when they are in reality absolutely fine. There is little bit of initial work to process the items but Elis and her volunteers are doing the overwhelming part of the work."

Other shops and cafés including Delish and Cathie's Cupcakes, were quick to follow suit. But there might be more joining the bandwagon soon as Ms Joudalova says about another dozen have already shown interest and more are getting in touch every day.

David Warr, owner of Cooper & Co heard about the scheme from one of his customers. He told Express: "Olio fits really well with our 'buy local' strategy. Because we mostly use freshly prepared food in our cafes the shelf life is usually at most 48 hours. Although we are careful as to purchase levels we don't always get it right which means we end up with some food items that we can't sell. Up to now outside of what the staff can use gets dumped, which is a real shame. When we saw this initiative we signed up immediately and I'm hoping that we will in future not have to bin any waste whilst at the same time knowing someone less fortunate than ourselves is benefiting."

In the light of the soon to be introduced commercial waste charges, the Olio scheme has a particular appeal for businesses. In the hope of reducing his waste, Mr Cilliers thought to share his coffee grounds, as non-food items can also be offered on the app. Although he didn't think there would be an interest, there has definitely been a demand from gardeners.

Olio helped drastically reduce the amount of waste produced by Alliance Tesco. Mr Stott explained: "Since we have been doing this, the amount of food that we send to the landfill or to the incinerator has reduced by 80%. It has a massive impact on what we are throwing away. It is definitely an advantage at a time where we are still not sure what the commercial waste charges are going to be. Moving forward, Olio will tie into it!"

While businesses seem clearly happy with the Olio scheme, users greatly benefit from it too. There are currently over 730 people using the app in Jersey. Ms Joudalova says she hears "amazing stories" and "heartwarming" comments from them.

After being recently promoted to City Champion, Ms Joudalova, doesn't do as much pick-ups as she used to and relies on her volunteers to collect the surplus food. She is now focusing on Olio growth in Jersey and has big projects for the Island.  She says: "I want to get as many shops and cafés involved so that one day there is no more food waste at all. I would like Jersey to be the first Island without food waste."