🥫 What you can and can't collect
Asda collections are ambient only. Ambient means shelf-stable food and drink that's stored at room temperature, not in a fridge or freezer. This rule keeps every collection safe, so please stick to it even if store staff offer you something else.
✅ You can collect
Ambient food and drink on its 'use by' date, or up to 1 month past its 'best before' date.
❌ You can't collect
Chilled food or drink (anything normally kept in a fridge).
Any frozen items.
Anything past its 'use by' date, or more than 1 month past its 'best before' date.
Anything in damaged or split packaging that could contaminate other items.
For more on handling food safely, see our food safety guidance.
If Asda includes any of the items above in your collection, reject them at the store if you notice before heading home.
If you only realise once you're home, dispose of them.
📩 How the collection process works
From 2 PM, Asda sends Olio a message confirming whether there's food to collect, or a 'no food available' message. Our system picks this up automatically and lets the store know a Food Waste Hero is assigned. A message then goes into your Squad Chat to tell you whether there's food available.
If there's food, a second confirmation message goes to the assigned volunteer and Squad Captain only. This message includes a verification code (for example 'HIASLN') that you'll need to show store staff before they can release the food. No code means no collection: without it, staff can't give the food away.
If you don't receive a confirmation message, the store hasn't told Olio whether there's food available. If that happens, we don't recommend attending the collection.
Please don't call the store to ask about surplus food.
🕐 When you can collect
Collections are scheduled on Olio for 6 PM, but once you've received your verification code you can collect any time before 7 PM. For example, if your code arrives at 2:30 PM, you can head to the store any time between 2:30 PM and 7 PM.
🔄 Types of Asda collections
As well as working with Olio, Asda shares surplus food with charities, so a master schedule of daily collections is shared across lots of different organisations. There are two types of Asda collection on Olio:
Primary collections: Olio receives the donation offer first. You can expect this message any time from 2 PM.
Last-minute collections: If a charity rejects or doesn't respond to a donation offer by 4 PM, it's automatically offered to Olio. These appear with a Surplus Food Confirmed label and only become available on the day of collection.
🚩 Reporting a problem
If anything doesn't go to plan, please fill out the FWH Issue Form under 'My Collections' on the Volunteer Hub.