Costa Coffee alternative milk collection
Why is Olio collecting surplus from Costa Coffee?
Olio Food Waste Heroes have been helping Costa Coffee to achieve their sustainability goals since 2020, and we are thrilled to be partnering with more stores across the UK in January 2022 to ensure that thousands of alternative milk products are given a new home when they are no longer part of the Costa Coffee menu.
How do I know if my local Costa Coffee is participating?
Olio is collecting from thousands of Costa Coffee stores and stands across the UK. Please visit the Volunteer Hub to see if a collection is available at a Costa Coffee near you. If you cannot see your local store on the Volunteer Hub, it’s likely that the collection has already been claimed - please don’t be disheartened! You may like to set up your notifications to be alerted in case a new collection becomes available.
Can I collect on a different day/at a different time?
All collections are scheduled to take place on 4th January between 2pm-5pm. Once you have claimed a Costa Coffee collection slot, you will agree this time with the store in advance of the collection.
How large will the collections be? Do I need a car to collect?
Collection sizes will vary depending on how much stock the store has left over. It can range between a few cartons, to multiple boxes of stock. Once you have claimed your collection slot, you will call the store to inquiry about the amount of milk available.
I can no longer make my collection. What should I do?
If you’ve claimed a collection but can no longer make it, please unassign from your collection via the Volunteer Hub. This will allow another volunteer to take your place and ensure that food does not go to waste.
How do I contact the store?
If you’ve been able to successfully claim a collection, you will be invited into a group chat where you can find the store’s phone number in the ‘Conversation info’ tab. Alternatively, you can check for your store on this list , or use a search engine to find the store number. Please call the store the day before your collection to agree the collection time, and to find out how much there is to collect.
The phones aren’t always easy for store staff to get to in time, so if you’re unable to get through to a member of staff, please try again at another time.
If you’re unable to get through to the store at all, please head to the store at the default collection time of 2pm on 4 January.
What if the store tells me there's nothing to collect when I contact them?
Please post this in the group chat. There is no need to report this to Olio or unassign from your collection slot.
How do I share my Costa Coffee collection on Olio?
Please read our FAQs on sharing food as a Food Waste Hero. In sum, you can keep up to 10% of what you collect as your personal allowance. This can also be shared with friends and family, or whoever you choose.
The rest of the collection must be shared via the Olio app. Please remember to separate the collection into different categories i.e. oat, soya, almond, coconut, and list against your collection slot so that Olio can track your listings, and update your listing quantity.
Once someone requests your listing, you can mark them as ‘picking up’.
More information on how to use the app can be found in our FAQs.
How long do I have to share the collection?
All products collected from Costa Coffee must be redistributed within 1 week, to allow Costa Coffee and Olio to accurately track how much of the alternative milk is successfully distributed, and to calculate the positive environmental impact of your collection.
There is an issue with my collection. What should I do?
Please submit a Food Waste Hero Issue Report form via the Volunteer Hub, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.