Collections with a “Surplus Food Confirmed” label

EDIT: This competition is now closed as we have reached 100 amazing participants. Thank you to all who took part 🙌

👕 As a thank you for taking part in these collections, the first 100 Food Waste Heroes to complete 3 one-off Tesco collections throughout March will be sent an Olio branded t-shirt! Please refer to our T&Cs here.

There’s a new "Surplus Food Confirmed" label on collection slots on the Volunteer Hub 🙌  you'll see this label in three scenarios explained below:


  1. The store has confirmed there’s food to collect 
  2. A charity has dropped out of a collection at short notice and the store has already confirmed there’s food available  
  3. A store has requested a collection as part of the real-time collection trial

Example collection slot with "Suplus Food Confirmed" label

1. The store has confirmed there’s food to collect 

There are currently 2 ways that businesses confirm collections via tech:


  • Foodiverse platform where a schedule is set up between charities and Olio and stores will notify whether or not there’s food and the update is sent directly to the group chat. Tesco, Booker, and Waitrose use this and Tesco has an ‘auto estimation’ technology in place that automatically calculates if food is available or not. 
  • Olio Collect where staff confirm if there’s food available, normally 1 hour before the scheduled collection time, and the update is also sent directly to the group chat. Iceland, One Stop, and Holland & Barrett are a few of the many businesses that use Olio Collect.

In instances where we have an available collection slot and food has been confirmed, you’ll now see this label and know there is food to collect!



2. A charity has dropped out of a collection at short notice and the store has already confirmed there’s food available 


As well as working with Olio, Tesco UK, Booker, and Waitrose also work with charities to share as much of their surplus food as possible.

When charities are unable to attend and the store has already confirmed there is food available to collect, Olio Volunteers can stand in for these one-off collection slots!

These are on top of your normal weekly collections and are Unlimited. This means they do not count to your maximum collection slot limit.


How does it work? 


🛒 If a charity rejects or doesn’t respond to a donation offer from the business, the collection is automatically offered to Olio. 


🛒 The collection slot will appear as a one-off collection on the Volunteer Hub and in your store squad chat for you to claim.


🛒 For Tesco, the one-off collection slots will typically appear between 7:30 pm-8:30 pm. You can see available collections slots here. For Booker and Waitrose these one-off collection slots will appear 1 hour before the scheduled collection time. You can update your notification settings on the Volunteer Hub to be alerted when slots become available.


🛒 If you receive an error message, it's likely that someone else or another charity has already claimed the slot.


🛒 Look out for a confirmation message in the squad chat. If you do not receive a confirmation message, a charity has likely claimed the collection instead so please do not go to collect.


3. A store has requested a collection as part of the real-time collection trial

We’re trialling a new way for stores to confirm a collection in real-time, more info is on this dedicated FAQ.

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