{"id":74,"date":"2023-03-23T21:47:46","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T21:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/business\/?post_type=case-study&p=74"},"modified":"2026-02-02T18:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T18:01:09","slug":"food-waste-tesco","status":"publish","type":"case-study","link":"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/business\/case-study\/food-waste-tesco\/","title":{"rendered":"Tackling food waste at Tesco: Olio and FareShare\u2019s collaborative approach to surplus food redistribution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
An Olio volunteer carrying out a collection at Tesco Cheshunt Extra<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A bit about Tesco and Olio<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tesco is the biggest supermarket chain in the country – with nearly 3,000 stores in the UK alone. Tesco was also the founding partnership for Olio\u2019s Food Waste Heroes Programme – so it holds a special place in our hearts!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How we started working together<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tesco has always had ambitious food waste reduction targets. Most recently, it\u2019s pledged to halve food waste in its own operations by 2025 – that\u2019s five years ahead of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (by 2030).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, Tesco started looking for ways to up the amount of surplus they could redistribute, on top of what they were already doing through their partnership with FareShare and its national network of charities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They ran a trial with Olio and FareShare across 250 stores, where surplus food levels were particularly high, and there weren\u2019t so many Fareshare charities available. The idea was that Olio volunteers would step in wherever charities couldn\u2019t to rescue unsold food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trial was a big success, and in 2020, Tesco rolled out Olio across its stores nationally. We\u2019ve now rescued an incredible 35 million meals since the start of our partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A member of Tesco store staff prepares discounted food for an Olio collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How our partnership has developed since we started working together <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Together with FareShare and Foodiverse, Olio has built an innovative, collaborative surplus redistribution solution. This unique food sharing system is the first multi-level redistribution solution of its type, and means that as much Tesco food as possible gets  redistributed for human consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FareShare charities collect Tesco\u2019s surplus in areas where there is enough charity coverage. Wherever charities are unavailable, have to cancel, or aren\u2019t capable of taking certain food types or quantities, Olio volunteers are called up to collect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how it works in practice: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n

Individual collections: Olio or FareShare only
<\/strong>If there\u2019s a FareShare charity available, the charity gets allocated to the Tesco collection.
If there are no charities available, Olio volunteers are allocated to the Tesco collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multi-collector: Olio and FareShare
<\/strong><\/strong>If the FareShare charity can collect all Tesco food types – which can vary between chilled, ambient, bakery and more – then the charity is allocated to the collection.
If the charity can only take certain food types, Olio volunteers step in to collect whatever charities can\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waitlist collections: Olio only<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>
Where there was a charity allocated to a Tesco collection, but the charity is no longer able to collect for whatever reason, Olio volunteers step in at the last minute to claim the collection.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A snapshot of the food collected by Olio volunteers from Tesco stores each day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Unlike traditional surplus redistribution solutions, these three strands to our partnership mean that Tesco doesn\u2019t have to rely solely on charities to get surplus food out to communities surrounding its stores. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olio\u2019s national network of 100,000, fully food safety trained volunteers can collect surplus wherever charities can\u2019t, and can share food in as little as 30 minutes once they\u2019ve picked it up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through these three types of collections, Olio has helped Tesco up the amount of food it\u2019s able to redistribute by a massive 65%. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n\n
\n

Our joint impact<\/h2>\n \n <\/div>\n\n
\n
\n\n
\n

90 million<\/h3>\n \n
\n

Meals rescued and shared with UK communities<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n

\n\n
\n

346k<\/h3>\n \n
\n

families fed through surplus food we’ve rescued<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n

\n\n
\n

161 million kgs<\/h3>\n \n
\n

of Co2 stopped from entering the atmosphere<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n

\n\n
\n

28 billion litres<\/h3>\n \n
\n

of water saved through our partnership<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n <\/section>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start working with Olio today<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Already working with a charity partner? Get in touch with Olio today to see how we could roll out our charity-first, community-second food redistribution approach across your stores. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:<\/strong> The figures in this case study represent Olio and Tesco’s joint impact from August 2020 up until January 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bit about Tesco and Olio Tesco is the biggest supermarket chain in the country – with nearly 3,000 stores…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"sector":[8],"class_list":["post-74","case-study","type-case-study","status-publish","hentry","sector-supermarket-and-convenience"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTackling food waste at Tesco | Tesco & Olio<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read how Olio helped tackle food waste at Tesco and help the redistribute their food into local communities\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/business\/case-study\/food-waste-tesco\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tackling food waste at Tesco | 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