OLIO is a free app tackling the problem of good food being thrown away by connecting neighbours with each other and with local shops & cafes so that surplus food can be shared, not thrown away. Users (consumers, OLIO volunteers or independent businesses) simply snap a picture of their surplus food and add it to OLIO, where neighbours receive customised alerts and can request anything that takes their fancy. Pick-up then takes place at the home/store, an OLIO Drop Box, or another agreed location. Since launching UK-wide in January of this year, OLIO has signed up over 100,000 users and they have together shared 150,000 items of food, equivalent to 30 tonnes, or 70,000 meals! Demand for food added to the app is exceptionally high with over 40% of all listings being requested in less than an hour. OLIO’s rapid growth has been powered by over 7,000 people who have reached out to offer to help spread the word about OLIO in their local community. These volunteers, or Ambassadors as we call them, distribute flyers, letters, posters and balloons, share on social media and speak at community events on our behalf. We have also recently launched a "Food Waste Heroes" programme, which we pioneered with Sainsburys, whereby small groups of OLIO volunteers are matched with a local business such as a bakery, supermarket, deli, street food market, cafe etc. These volunteers then provide a free service to that business whereby they collect any unsold food at the end of the day and re-distribute it to the local community via the OLIO app. A real win: win for everybody! In OLIO we have built a powerful technology platform and community-based brand that is global, scalable and fun. We would love the support of Refresh to help us multiply our impact!