New figures confirm Leonardo contribution to sustainable food for community

In Luton alone, Leonardo has donated 215 kg of food, saving 154,400 litres of water and avoiding 891 kg of Co2 emissions, which is the same as taking 3,030 car miles off the road.

Leonardo established the scheme to ensure that unused meals, fruit, vegetables and baked goods from its employee canteens in Yeovil, Basildon, Edinburgh, Luton and Southampton were donated back into the local communities surrounding their sites, to help families struggling to cope with the cost of living.

The impact of making the supplies available was confirmed recently by feedback from one of the users who said: “We are struggling a bit at the moment, so Olio has been a huge help these past couple of weeks. Thank you - once we are back on our feet we hope to give back to those that need help too."

The new data follows the Trussell Trust’s recent report on hunger in the UK called ‘The Empty Tummy Disadvantage’ that confirmed that lack of food is affecting educational and professional attainment for children and adults in local communities.

Zevi Watmough, Sustainability spokesperson for Leonardo, said: “Food security continues to be a problem for many, which is why the work Olio is doing is so important. We are proud to support this programme.”

A benefit of the app is that it can be used to access food privately, rather than having to visit a food bank. Each week, Leonardo catering teams at Leonardo prepare the food for collection by Olio, who perform quality checks before listing it as being available via the Olio app for people nearby to request. Local people can then arrange to collect the food privately from an Olio volunteer.

Reflecting on the success of the Leonardo scheme Tessa Clarke, co-founder of Olio, said: “It's brilliant to see big companies like Leonardo taking proactive steps to reduce food waste across their offices, and supporting local communities at the same time. It sets an example to other companies feeding large workforces that their spare food can be a really impactful way to make a difference to people's lives in neighbourhoods up and down the country."

As part of its journey towards Net Zero, Leonardo UK is committed to Net Zero for Scope 1 and 2 by 2030, and has already made good progress in reducing emissions by 63% from 2019. By 2050, the organisation is focused on reaching Net Zero for its Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions (Scope 3 emissions as defined in PPN 06/21) against the baseline year

Leonardo gave further impetus to its climate-related strategy, by committing itself to the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi), to define an ambitious target to reduce direct and indirect CO2 emissions, in line with the objectives set in the Paris agreement.

Since it was first formed in 2015, Olio has engaged 127,000 volunteers, avoiding 217,000 tonnes of Co2 emissions.

66% of Olio volunteers have said that working with the organisation has improved their mental health because of the sense of purpose that their work brings to their lives.