• pandamart Singapore is the first business in Singapore to partner with OLIO, a free community-sharing app, to redistribute excess unsold food
• Close to 400kg of food from pandamart Whampoa redistributed since the partnership started in December 2021, providing 900 meals to 180 local families. 
• Initiative expanded to two more pandamart stores in February, with the goal of having all 15 pandamart stores onboard by end 2022

SINGAPORE (10 March 2022) – Singapore’s leading online grocery cloud store, pandamart by foodpanda, is partnering with free-sharing app , OLIO, to minimise food waste in Singapore. As part of this collaboration, pandamart will give away unsold food which will be redistributed to the local community via the OLIO app. 

The initiative, which was first trialled in pandamart Whampoa in December 2021, redistributes surplus food, which would otherwise be thrown away, to the local community through the OLIO app. This food, which includes perishables that are nearing their shelf-life and canned goods with minor packaging defects, will be collected by OLIO’s “Food Waste Hero” volunteers on set days and times, and will be uploaded onto the OLIO app and redistributed to households and community groups for free. 

More than 100,000 individuals across Singapore are already using OLIO to counter the throwaway culture by sharing food and non-food (eg. furniture, clothing, school items and more) with others in their immediate community. The free app has fostered a positive sharing culture – users are encouraged to be considerate and ensure any edible items given away are something they would be comfortable consuming themselves too. Half of all food listings in Singapore are collected within half an hour.

In just three months, the partnership has effectively redistributed close to 400kg of food, providing an equivalent of over 900 meals to 180 local families – from just one pandamart store. The results translate to approximately over 1700kg of CO2 emissions avoided, and over 295 thousand litres of water saved. The programme was recently extended to two more pandamart outlets at Tampines and Bukit Batok, and will be expanded to include all 15 pandamart stores by the end 2022.  

Food waste remains one of the biggest waste streams in Singapore – generating over 660,000 tonnes in 2020 and accounting for about 11 per cent of the total waste generated. With the partnership with OLIO, foodpanda is stepping up its efforts to support Singapore’s Zero Waste Master Plan and prevent edible food surplus from ending up in landfills.

Laura Kantor, Marketing and Sustainability Director at foodpanda Singapore, said: “While we try our best to ensure that the supply we procure at pandamart coincides with our customers’ demand, it is inevitable that we will have excess food that will not get sold. Instead of throwing them away, we can reduce food waste by redistributing them, and our partnership with OLIO allows us to easily and efficiently do so. Minimising food waste is one of the key pillars that shape our sustainability agenda at foodpanda, and we are keen to play a bigger part in supporting Singapore’s plan towards becoming a Zero Waste Nation.”

Tessa Clarke, CEO and Co-Founder of OLIO, said: “Singaporeans are eager to adopt a zero-waste lifestyle and the traction we’ve seen from the trial with pandamart is great testament to that. We’re incredibly excited to build on this pioneering partnership so we can support as many people and businesses as possible to become zero food waste.”

For more information on foodpanda’s sustainability initiatives and OLIO, the digital media kit for this media release can be accessed here.