Sharing app OLIO inspire us to be kinder to the planet during Zero Waste Week

60% of all greenhouse gases are due to consumption in our homes*
150+ goals – from switching your toothbrush to changing your bank account, and everything in between

The week is Zero Waste Week, a time when we are encouraged to consider how we can individually look to reduce waste to collectively make a difference. To give us a helping hand, OLIO, the community sharing app has launched a new feature in its app guiding users to living a life which is kinder to the planet.

The new section in the app, GOALS, provides practical prompts to living a sustainable lifestyle to combat the 60% of greenhouse gas emissions that are created as a result of consumption in our homes. Each user is given an initial pack of 30 goals, and 5 new goals are released each week, up to a total of 150+, with varying levels of difficulty and impact.

The higher the impact on your carbon footprint, the higher the score you achieve. Activities include:

Ordering a food waste caddie to stop food going to landfill and creating methane, a potent greenhouse gas
Replacing your plastic toothbrush with a bamboo one; every plastic toothbrush ever created still exists in the world
Changing to an eco-friendly savings account, so your money isn’t being used to fund the fossil fuel industry
Making the most of lock-down by watching classics such as “Before the Flood” or reading Naomi Klein’s “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate”

OLIO is best known for its work tackling food waste, but has since developed into a wider community sharing app. It allows users to pass on unwanted items from around the home, from food to furniture and clothes to cookware. OLIO makes it incredibly easy to give away unwanted items to neighbours, with half of all food added to the app requested in under 1 hour, and half of all household items requested in under 4 hours.

The app has seen a huge surge of activity in 2020, particularly post COVID, achieving the same amount of growth (items shared) in the last five weeks as it did in the last five years. A typical month now sees over 300,000 items given away.

OLIO’s founders say GOALS is the next logical step for the app. Tessa Clarke, co-founder said: “We developed GOALS in direct response to feedback from our community, who made it clear that they’re looking for guidance and inspiration on how to lead a more sustainable life, beyond sharing via the app.

“We passionately believe that it was billions of small actions that created the climate crisis in the first place, and so billions of small actions can help reverse it. The aim of GOALS is to take away the hard work by providing a set of simple, fun things to do that collectively will make a massive difference to your carbon footprint.”

As well as inspiring users to achieve their goals, the section also contains recommended ethical suppliers, and further reading on each goal.

Tessa Clarke continued: “The enthusiasm with which people have been embracing OLIO this year is a clear sign that as a society, we want change now. The coronavirus pandemic has brought with it so much tragedy, but it has also provided a very clear insight into how much damage we’ve been doing to the planet and our communities. We have the opportunity to rebuild the future we all want – one that is sustainable and equitable, and hopefully GOALS will provide an opportunity for everybody to join the journey and make a difference.”