In a remarkable display of corporate social responsibility, aerospace engineering company Leonardo’s year-long partnership with food donation app company Olio has resulted in significant environmental benefits and community support.
New figures released, on 16 October confirm that since aerospace engineering company Leonardo first launched its partnership with Olio in October 2023, they have saved 793,600 litres of water, avoiding 4,582 kg of Co2 equivalent to keeping 15,579 car miles off the road.
In Edinburgh alone, the Company has saved 1,055 meals, while avoiding 1,910kg Co2 emissions equivalent to keeping 6,494 car miles off the road, while saving 330,800 litres of water.
Leonardo established the scheme to ensure that unused meals, fruit, vegetables and baked goods from its employee canteens in Basildon, Edinburgh, Luton, Southampton and Yeovil were donated back into the local communities surrounding their sites, to help families struggling to cope with the cost of living.
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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.
Catering Manager Andy Mcleod who manages the restaurant at the Leonardo site in Edinburgh said: “I usually prepare the food for the Olio representative to collect and it gives me a great sense of pride when I’m handing it all over. Sometimes there can be quite a lot in the boxes and they share it with local community members. It has become a really important and rewarding part of our weekly routine.”
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.
