OurCoop has revealed it has saved 5.4m grocery items from being wasted in the last two years through its partnership with Olio - a milestone in the Society’s journey to reduce food waste across its estate.
OurCoop, which launched in January 2026 bringing together Central Co-op, Midcounties Co-operative and Chelmsford Star, now has 400 food stores partnered with the food redistribution app.
Through the partnership, which has been in place since 2024, store colleagues are able to alert local volunteer teams when food that would otherwise be wasted is available for redistribution at the end of the day, helping to tackle both food waste and food insecurity.
Olio volunteers, or ‘Food Waste Heroes,’ then collect the goods from the store, before listing them on the Olio app for local households to collect free of charge.
While the food on the app is available to everyone, many users who request it are experiencing financial hardship and may be using food banks alongside Olio. Through this system, surplus food can go from supermarket shelves to local dinner tables in as little as 30 minutes.
Since the start of the partnership with Olio in 2024, OurCoop has saved over 1,600 tonnes of excess food. This has resulted in positive environmental impacts equivalent to saving 1.2bn litres of water and avoiding 7.1m kilos of CO2 emissions. This translates to removing more than 26m car miles from the road.
Hannah Gallimore, social change manager at OurCoop, said: “Partnerships like these are so important to us as a Society that has community and sustainability at the heart of everything it does. By working together, not only are we limiting food waste wherever we can, but we’re also helping households that need it most by putting meals on table.”
Saasha Celestial-One, COO and co-founder of Olio, said: “Teaming up with OurCoop has allowed us to make real progress in tackling food waste and food insecurity. The combined effort of our dedicated Food Waste Heroes and OurCoop’s store teams allows us to stop food from going to waste unnecessarily and redirects items to households in need.
”We’re really proud of the achievements and are passionate about continuing to make a difference together.”
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