At Olio, our mission is simple: fewer things wasted, and more things kept in circulation. What started as a free food app between a handful of neighbours now sees over £100 million worth of free food and household items given away every year! That’s around £274,000 every single day 😱
What does £100m of free stuff look like in real life? Let’s take a look 👀
So where does it all come from?
Most of it is surplus food from local shops, cafes and supermarkets like Tesco, Pret, Sainsbury’s and many more.
Our amazing Food Waste Heroes rescue that food daily and share it with people in their local community – completely free. In fact, our volunteers clocked up 2.5 million volunteering hours in 2025 🤯 💪
Just take a look at this incredible surplus food collection, worth around £140, shared by a TikTok user @lornrussell:
No wonder people are talking about it! We’ve even been featured in MoneySavingExpert, The Sun and Manchester Evening News, to name a few 🙌
The rest comes from neighbours giving away things they no longer need (but that still have plenty of life left in them) for free. Every sofa, bottle of shampoo and well-thumbed book adds up!
Real meals made from free surplus food 🍲
Olio-ers turn the free food they pick up into full, hearty meals, and nothing goes to waste. Take a look at just a few of the dishes our community has made with the help of Olio:
“Olio Dinner! I had a bag of broccoli left over from an Olio Collection so I made baked cheese broccoli balls.” Olio-er from Portsmouth
“You really can make the most of Olio and plan meals around the ingredients you collect. 2-3 local collections last weekend helped make a week’s worth of food including some meals for the homeless.” Olio-er from West Yorkshire
“I made this today using what I collected from Olio a few days ago, and it turned out absolutely delicious! Roasted potatoes with broccoli and asparagus. It’s amazing what you can make from rescued food. “ Olio-er from Greater Manchester
The things people give away (and get) for free
From sofas to gaming consoles, candy floss machines to bikes there have been some incredible free finds that were able to find a new home, instead of ending up in landfill.
Just take a look at some of the things that have been shared completely free on Olio.
Some Olio-ers have even been able to furnish a home for free! When Karen and her partner moved from Paris to London, kitting out a new flat on a tight budget felt daunting. Then the couple selling them a second-hand TV reminded them about Olio.
Today, their living room is full of finds from neighbours on Olio: a dining table, chairs, a sofa bed, a rocking chair and even a footstool 🛋️
“My favourite find has to be the chairs. They’re stunning – like something you’d see in a design museum!” Karen, Olio-er from London, UK
What free stuff means for Olio-ers
For lots of people, what they pick up for free on Olio means saving things from waste or a really good bargain. For others, it means a fuller fridge at the end of the month, or one less thing to buy when money’s tight.
The number is big, but what it adds up to is pretty simple:
🌍 Less going in the bin: good food gets eaten and good stuff keeps getting used
💚 More money left at the end of the month: 84% of Olio-ers tell us their financial wellbeing has improved – especially important during the cost of living crisis
Download Olio for free
Getting started takes a couple of minutes:
✔️ Download Olio: it’s free on the App Store and Google Play
✔️ Have a scroll: see what’s being given away near you right now
✔️ Request what you fancy: message the lister and arrange a pick-up
✔️ Pass something on: got something you don’t need? Pop it on Olio and make someone’s day