🎉 This week, Olio turns 10! 🎉
What began as a small local experiment is now a global movement, and it’s all because of you.
Together, we’ve proven that when people care, connect, and share, extraordinary things happen 🙌
It all started in 2015, when Tessa was moving house and couldn’t bear to throw away good food from her fridge. With her friend Saasha, they launched a simple idea: a way for neighbours to share what they didn’t need.
The very first share? Half a bag of onions.
Since then, millions of items have been saved from waste – helping households, the planet, and showing what’s possible when communities come together.
Today, that spirit of sharing has grown far beyond individual homes. We now partner with businesses across thousands of locations to rescue their surplus food – and thanks to a network of 150,000 Food Waste Heroes, it’s redistributed quickly and locally, right back into the community.
A special message from Tessa & Saasha
Watch our 10-year video, celebrating the milestones you made possible – with reflections from our co-founders.
See how far we’ve come
From a local WhatsApp group, to a global, waste-busting app, Olio’s evolved a lot in 10 years. Explore the visual timeline of our journey – and see just how much we’ve grown together.
Real people. Real impact đź’š
Olio’s saved hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO₂ from being wasted, but just as powerful are the human stories behind the shares. Like these:
“Within 4–5 days, they had helped me furnish my whole house.”
When Opeyemi moved to the UK with her family, they had no furniture and were sleeping on the floor. Then she found Olio – and a stranger named Kat.
“Sharing on Olio helped me grieve, and gave my parents’ things new life.”
After losing both her parents, Anna chose to give away their belongings on Olio. The act of sharing became a deeply healing experience.
👉 Read Anna’s story
“Before Olio, I didn’t really go out or mix with people much… Now I’ve made friends who are always there for me.”
Volunteering with Olio didn’t just bring Teresa purpose, it transformed her mental health and connected her to a community she never knew she needed.
These stories are just three of thousands. Every time you share on Olio, you’re not just preventing waste – you’re building a community.
Your Collective Impact
Thanks to you and millions like you, the Olio community has:
🥗Saved 120 million meals from going to waste
♻️ Shared 15 million household items with each other
🌍 Prevented 270k tonnes of COâ‚‚ emissions being wasted – the equivalent of grounding over 12,000 one-way flights between London and Paris!
đź‘Ą Grown into a movement of over 8.5 million people across 65+ countries
A note from Tessa & Saasha
“When we started Olio, we had no idea what would happen. We just knew something had to change, and we hoped others felt the same.
A decade later, we’re completely in awe of this generous community. Not only have we saved an unthinkable amount of food and household items from going to waste – we’ve also shown the incredible impact of connection and collective action.
Thank you for making Olio what it is today. Here’s to the next 10 years of waste-busting, world-changing, community-powered magic💚”
Tessa & Saasha