Thereis such a thing as a free lunch, it turns out, as long as you don't mind toomuch what it is. Tamara Wilson found hers a few streets away from her westLondon home—and as well as picking up some unwanted bread and fruit that wouldotherwise be thrown away, she made a new friend.
Wilsonis one of 3.4 million people around the world using an app designed toencourage people to give away rather than throw away surplus(剩余的) food. "It's such a small thing, but it makes me feel good andmy neighbour feel good. And a lot of small acts can end up making a bigdifference, " she said.
Thelast few years have seen an explosion in creative ways to tackle food waste bylinking supermarkets, cafés, restaurants and individual households to localcommunities. Olio, the app used by Wilson, saw a fivefold increase in listingsduring 2022, and the signs are that this rapid growth is continuing into 2023,said Tessa Clarke, its CEO and cofounder.
Abouta third of all food produced globally is wasted, according to the UN's Food andAgriculture Organisation (FAO). Almost 1.4 billion hectares of land—close to30% of the world's agricultural land—is dedicated to producing food that isnever eaten, and the carbon footprint of food wastage makes it the thirdcontributor of CO2. Reducing food waste is one of the most effectiveways of tackling the global climate crisis.
Olio,Clarke said, was an attempt to change this on a small, local scale. "Theapp connects people with others who have surplus food but don't have anyone togive it to because so many people are disconnected from their communities."Users of Olio post images of surplus food that others in the neighbourhoodmight want. Olio also has a network of 24, 000 volunteers who collect surplusfood from local supermarkets and stores for app users to claim.
Despitethe success of the app, it was hard to make a difference to the huge scale offood waste, Clarke added. "Even though we're doing well, we've onlyscratched the surface(触及表面). But if everyonemakes small changes in the world, we'd dramatically reduce the amount of foodthat ends up in bins(垃圾桶)."
