She told Express exactly what her plan of attack will be…
“Wow, what a fantastic six months! When I started Olio in Jersey, in mid May, I never dreamt it could be such a great success in a such a short period of time. 30 food outlets, a team of 40 really amazing volunteers, 5,400 app users, 15 charities and community organisations and over 1,800 Facebook followers on board with the local food sharing revolution, as well as me getting to the finals of the Pride of Jersey Awards as Environmentalist of the Year has just been incredible. Thank you so much everyone!
“Olio has changed my life completely so I decided to follow my passion and dream and left my office job at the end of the summer to continue to make a difference in Jersey. Olio has always been my first project towards more sustainable Jersey. I would like to continue to grow it as there are many more businesses to get on board and many more people to join us.
“I would like to build on this success and take it further next year though by working more closely with suppliers and businesses to help them reduce and avoid food waste at the first place which will save the precious resources, decrease lost capital, as well as save the costs associated with the new commercial solid waste charges.
Pictured: Olio is a food-sharing app where people can share their food surplus with fellow islanders.
“I would like to try to connect supply, retail and waste management chains further, inspired by a circular economy model focused on reducing, reusing and recycling or composting rather than continuing with the current linear model of ‘make-use-dispose.’ The overall aim is to reduce costs and increase profits to all parties involved while supporting the local community and preserving the environment.
“The local authorities have expressed a strong interest to work with me towards the shared goal of creating a more sustainable island which I am very excited about. I will continue to spread awareness about food waste and its connection to climate change, loss of water, land, biodiversity, resources used for packaging and transport, capital for disposal and man power – while ironically over 800 million of people around the world go to bed hungry every day.
“Also awareness about waste reduction especially single-use plastics and non-reusable, non-recyclable items, sustainability and the importance of eating local and seasonal. I would like to introduce various initiatives focusing on making a difference in these areas, for instance to decrease use of take-away cups and plastic bags.
“My plan for the further future is to create one big campaign on all these initiatives to which the whole community could take part in so that we can make a difference together. The campaign should benefit all parties involved with positive economic, social as well as environmental impacts to the island.
“I have really enjoyed and I would like to do more talks about food, food waste and sustainability at Jersey library, relevant events organised by parishes, States of Jersey, various organisations, etc. I am excited to have been asked to be involved in a number of educational projects and have talks arranged at schools for next year, such as Le Rocquier and JCG, as I believe education is our planet’s best hope and most effective mean in the quest to achieve sustainable development. I have also been invited to take part in some fantastic community projects organised by Jersey Youth Service, CI Co-op, the Parish of St. Helier and different charities we have been supporting with Olio.
Pictured: Elis (middle) with some of her food-hero volunteers.
“I am also going to be involved with an amazing European start-up company who was impressed by our work and joint achievements with Olio. The company would like to use Jersey as its research centre, with the support of Digital Jersey, to unite our joint goal of reducing food waste globally. Their free app is aimed to provide solutions to households via smart shopping, eliminating waste and saving money and time.
“Last but not least I would like to continue to build a positive image of Jersey abroad with the ultimate goal of being a zero food waste leading model for other communities in the world to follow. The momentum is here and it is strong. We can do this Jersey!”