We’ve been intercepting food for over 2 years. In shopping bags and pull-along trollies, stuffed in car boots and pockets and now, in our lovely crowd-funded van.
But we can’t collect it all. Households throw away 7.3 million tonnes of food per year costing families £700. House moves, student terms, allotment surplus, Buy-one-get-one-free offers, over catering, and parties, all added up produce huge amounts of waste. Small shops, market stalls and cafes throw away sandwiches, bread loaves, cabbages and cakes. These are all in much too small quantities for us to collect from but are delicious and we hate to see them go in the bin.
That’s why we’ve partnered with OLIO and Waste Less Save More to launch the OLIO food waste app in Durham. It puts the power in your hands to address the local food waste problem, by inviting you to become part of a food sharing network. By Posting. Collecting. Distributing. Eating.

We’re going to have a launch party later in the year when we’ve gathered a critical mass of people using the app, so now would be an amazing time for you to get on board and help us get there. Here’s how…

1. Download the app. Then, look through your cupboards to find anything that you wouldn’t get round to eating, and post it on the app. We can’t launch the app properly until there’s a supply! Once you’ve done this, share your post on social media to spread the word. Tell your friends.

2. Once you’ve joined the app and had a go at posting, you could step up to become one of our Food Waste Heroes. This means you’ll help us by picking up food collections from larger cafes and distributing it to others using the app. It also means you can join in with our launch and keep in the loop about how we’re progressing. To do this, sign up as a volunteer on the app and then email the address below to get in touch with Mim, the Durham coordinator.

If you’re interested in helping in other ways like partnering with us through your club or society to spread the work or having OLIO arrange collections from your café or allotment then get in touch with Mim:  mim@refusedurham.org.uk.