Tessa Clarke, Olio CEO: Environmental impact of food waste is devastating

“The environmental impacts of food waste are absolutely devastating. If it were a country, food waste would be the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions after the USA and China - and that's because a landmass larger than China is used every year to grow food that's never eaten.”

Leanna Byrne speaks to Olio co-founder and CEO Tessa Clarke.

Olio helps millions of people around the world give away unwanted food and household items instead of throwing them away. It’s a simple process, where users list unwanted food, clothes, furniture, books, and toiletries on the app for people nearby to then get in touch and arrange collection.

Having started life barely a decade ago in the form of a WhatsApp group set up to reduce waste in a small corner of suburban London, Olio has since grown into an app used daily in around 50 countries all over the world.

With over 150 million meals and 17 million household items already shared, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO₂ emissions and billions of litres of water in the process saved, the movement has even been recognised by the United Nations as a scalable solution for combating climate change.

In this interview, Clarke talks about how it grew into a global movement, and why changing human behaviour may be key to tackling climate change.

Thank you to the Founders team for their help in making this programme. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Veolia CEO Estelle Brachlianoff, billionaire Mohammed Dewji, and TaskRabbit founder Leah Solivan. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Leanna Byrne Producers: Ben Cooper and Barbara George Editor: Farhana Haider

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Tessa Clarke. Credit: Getty)

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