Keeping collection items
All listed items must be shared outside your household. Only the unlisted 10% personal allowance can be kept for yourself, family, friends, or donated locally.
Check here for all the details on our late collections policy, which allows Food Waste Heroes to keep items from late pickups.
As a Food Waste Hero, how much food can I keep for myself?
We want as much food as possible to be shared widely amongst your local communities. This is the best way to make sure that food ends up in the bellies of people who want and need it! If you're already doing this, thank you so much for helping your community. 🙏
10% for you and your friends
As a "Thank you!" you’re allowed to keep 10% of the food you collect. You don’t need to add this to the app. You can keep it or give it to whoever you want, including friends, family, flatmates—or even someone who is homeless or elderly and doesn’t have access to the mobile app. It’s up to you!
NB. If you collect less than 10 items, by all means, keep 1 for yourself and if you collect 25, you can round up to 3.
90% MUST go on the app
For transparency with our food business donors (in case of product recalls, for impact reporting, etc.), 90% of the food must be listed on the app for anyone to request and pick up.
When sharing these listings via the app, please ensure they are visible to as many local people as possible. It’s essential to grow a wide-reaching food-sharing community.
- Tip: Encourage local charities or people in need to request your listings through the app.
- Important: Please give priority to those outside your "circle" (family and friends). It’s through widening the circle of beneficiaries that we save more food and grow the community.
- Reminder: Members of your household should not request your listings as they already benefit from the 10% you can keep for yourself.
What happens if my listings aren’t requested?
We have prepared a FAQ that will give you some tips and tricks for getting more requests.
If your listings have been on the app for a reasonable amount of time and haven’t been requested, here’s what you should do:
- Let the listing expire naturally—do not mark the items as "Pick Up Arranged."
- Once expired, you can consume the leftover food yourself or share it with your friends and family to ensure it doesn’t go to waste. Here you can find more ideas about what you can do if you are unable to share all food from your collection.
Important note: Do not get members of your household to request the items through the app. Your household has already been entitled to keep 10% of the food collected, and requesting the items through the app violates our guidelines and undermines the purpose of the FWH program.
Why is this important?
This policy ensures that food is shared fairly within the community.
Need help growing your community?
If you’re finding it difficult to get requests, check out our tips and tricks for attracting more requests: Tips & Tricks for Getting More Requests.