Description
Olio is a free British app for giving away food and household items to neighbours, and for collecting surplus food from shops such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s through volunteer “Food Waste Heroes”, who then share it in their area.
Tessa Clarke and Saasha Celestial-One founded it in 2015 in North London. It is a company and a certified B Corp. Olio says it has 9.6 million users, 72 million neighbour pick-ups, 166 million meals and 17 million household items shared. Business partners such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Pret hand their surplus to the volunteers, and Olio charges businesses for this programme, which is how it earns money; users don’t pay, though they can also sell items “for a few quid”.
In 2025 Olio counted 150,000 volunteers and celebrated ten years and 120 million meals rescued. Trustpilot reviews from October 2025 complain that some shops scan food for collection but then have nothing when volunteers arrive, and allege that Olio is paid per collection regardless; Olio replied that it tries to set expectations with both sides. Olio won a Sustainable Retail Innovation Award in November 2025.
Strengths
- Giving and collecting are free, and the app covers both food and household items.
- Partnerships with big chains like Tesco and Sainsbury’s bring large amounts of surplus food to volunteers.
- It has kept growing for ten years and is a certified B Corp.
Weaknesses
- Olio is a company that earns money from shops for collections, and volunteers have criticised collections where nothing was handed over.
- How well it works depends on how many active users and volunteers live nearby.
- The user and meal figures come from Olio itself, and the latest impact report linked is for 2022/23.
Who it is for
Households in the UK who want to pass on spare food or things instead of binning them, and volunteers who want to collect surplus from local shops.
Sources
- Olio: home, what is Olio, our impact, our story, press and awards, 10 years of Olio (2025) (checked November 2026)
- Trustpilot: Olio reviews
- TechCrunch: Olio picks up £6M Series A (2018)