Olio partners with waste giant Biffa to tackle hunger crisis

Strategy 5 min read
  • Waste giant Biffa has partnered with Olio to encourage businesses across the UK to move surplus food up the waste hierarchy 
  • The first-of-its-kind collaboration will see businesses able to prevent food from becoming waste 
  • Customers can track the meals, water and emissions savings as a result of redistribution 
  • Olio’s Food Waste Heroes will see the surplus gets to the hands of those who need it, while customers will benefit from consolidated waste management contracts 

Leading sustainable waste management company Biffa has partnered with Olio to add same-day food redistribution to its toolkit of commercial waste management services. 

Every year in the UK, billions of potential meals end up in the bin, while 13 million people struggle to feed themselves. Biffa’s new collaboration with Olio offers businesses a unique opportunity to transform their surplus food into meaningful support for local communities. 

Through this partnership, Biffa can now offer its customers a simple way to redistribute any surplus food at their retail, convenience, catering or restaurant premises. An initial trial across 25 sites at Nando’s, Caffè Nero and Nisa has already delivered an impressive impact. 

Same-day food redistribution now available as part of Biffa’s client offering  

With Olio, any edible surplus food from companies working with Biffa can now be shared directly with the community when stores, sites or restaurants close. 

The process for those businesses is simple – colleagues simply set aside food that didn’t sell or get eaten that day for Olio volunteers (called Food Waste Heroes) to collect. 

 Volunteers then take that food home, and upload it to Olio’s app, so people nearby can request and collect it. Usually, food finds a new home in as little as 30 minutes. 

This can now happen seamlessly alongside businesses’ regular scheduled waste and recycling collections with Biffa. 

“We’re constantly looking for innovative ways to prevent surplus food from becoming waste in the first place,” said Amy Hooper, Innovation Manager, Biffa.  

Amy Hooper - ESS Expo 2024
Amy Hooper, Innovation Manager, Biffa

“Our unique partnership with Olio now means that we can move food up the waste hierarchy, helping our customers to hit their sustainability goals while saving them money by reducing the amount of food waste that needs collecting from their businesses.  

“What sets this initiative apart from any other is that businesses can tangibly track the positive impact of redistribution. While there are clear benefits for businesses, it’s comforting to know that surplus food is also helping the local community.” 

Saasha Celestial-One, co-founder and COO of Olio, added: 

 “We’re so proud to announce our new partnership with Biffa, which is the first of its kind in the commercial waste management sector. Together, we’re able to reduce the weight of good, edible food ending up in Biffa bins, and make sure it feeds local families instead.  

Olio and Biffa are 100% aligned on our mission to build a future without waste, and we’ve been really encouraged to see the results from our trials across Caffè Nero, Nando’s and Nisa locations over the past 12 months. We’re incredibly grateful to the whole team at Biffa, store staff at our trial locations, and Olio’s volunteers for getting our partnership off to such a flying start.”  

Saasha Celestial-One - Going Green
Saasha Celestial-One, co-founder and COO, Olio 

Biffa customers can now access Olio’s network of volunteers through one single partnership, consolidating their waste management contracts and simplifying their supplier relationships.  

Businesses can also track the impact that their Olio food donations are having on the local community via Olio’s Partner Hub – including how many meals they’ve rescued, how much water they’ve saved, and the emissions avoided through the food they’ve redistributed.  

Success stories: The partnership in action 

The Biffa-Olio partnership has already seen successful trials with major brands like Caffè Nero, Nando’s and Nisa, with all three businesses reporting positive results. 

When asked how they found the trial, one store manager at Nisa said: 

 “We are loving Olio. The volunteers are brilliant, the food is going out to the local community and it’s making me so proud to be able to help others. I definitely want to continue once the pilot is over.” 

Tim Norton, Trials Manager at Nisa, said: “Cutting food waste is a big priority issue to overcome for independent retailers so it is pleasing to see that the initial trial period with Biffa and Olio has been a success. We look forward to working with them heading into 2025 to bring continued benefits for our independent retailers.” 

Collectively across those four businesses, a trial running across 25 sites in 2023 and 2024 saw 54kg of food rescued, equating to 7,197 meals for local people, saving 

2,258 litres of water and preventing 3,739kg in carbon emissions.  

Olio’s volunteers all undertake thorough food safety training as part of their onboarding in the app, meaning Biffa clients can confidently donate any food type – including cooked, chilled and frozen food – as well as ambient grocery products.  

Biffa’s drive for social impact at scale 

Working with Olio to share surplus food is the latest move by Biffa to tie meaningful social impact into its business model. 

In 2021, Biffa acquired Company Shop Group, which helps businesses redistribute surplus products like production overruns, trial products, and  incorrectly-labelled or packaged items. Company Shop Group also oversees Community Shop, a not-for-profit with a network of six community hubs supporting some of the most deprived areas of the UK.

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