I'm a tech fan, although sometimes she doesn't love me at all ?, but that doesn't stop me (or not for too long?). So now I think it's a good time to write about a very nice phone app: Oil, especially since in December we tend to do more good deeds and give a little joy to those around us.
Oil is an application that unites communities, neighbors and helps us share various things and / or food that we no longer eat for various reasons (but it is safe for consumption) and it would be a shame to end up in the landfill. But how did she appear and who is behind her? Well, a few years ago two nice women: Tessa Clarke and Saasha Celestial-One who decided to do something against food waste and make sharing food easy, fun, without anyone feeling weird or uncomfortable. More details can be found here.
And now let's see how exactly the application works. Download from the Google play store, create an account, click on the plus, take a picture of what we want to donate or upload one from the gallery. Then it goes to the category food or non - food listing, in the title it is written what exactly is donated, a short description, the time in which we are available for the donation of the respective thing or food is set. After all this we can also go to the default settings: list for 28 days, show to all users immediately, pick up location => all this can be changed as desired if we press the Change button.
That's what Olio looks like
That's what I listed on Olio now because it's more sustainable to reuse the jars than to take them to recycling first.
If we see something we want from the application, it is enough to give a message to the donor and pick up the listed product. I used the app to get something I really wanted for a while, but I didn't want to buy new, but I was looking for sh (also to use the resources we already have available and not waste them). It was very easy, I immediately got in touch with that person and, being a neighbor (because the application shows us first the listings near our location and only if we change the location settings we can see within a radius of km) I met near the houses to pick up the object.
This is what the listed products look like
Oil is a very user friendly application and can help even homeless people: if we see someone in this situation who needs food for example, we can make a request on Olio and share location. The application is widespread in the UK where it is even used by restaurants so that the good food that remains unsold at the end of the day reaches the shelters of poor people or other places where it is needed. In Bucharest, I don't know if it's the same in the rest of the country, there aren't many users yet, but we can change that by telling those around us about it: neighbors, co-workers / school, relatives, friends, etc. For England, those from Oil (click on the name for their facebook page where with a like you have a lot of information) provide us with some figures:
2,753,127 portions of food were shared?
Which is the equivalent of 8,074,106 car miles saved (miles because… England)
49 of countries use it successfully
And for December, in Romania, Olio starts a campaign against food waste and urges us to use the application to donate what foods we fail to consume, instead of expiring in the closet or spoiling in the refrigerator. More details can be found here. Don't be shy, everything is very easy and simple. It's the season, so let's share more and waste less. ??? ♻️ Did you use it? If so, share your experience in the comments and also tell the city / village or neighborhood where you are from. Let's find each other in Oil.
EN:
I love technology, even if sometimes she doesn't love me ?, I love to test and share interesting apps on my phone that can help us or simplify our lives. One of this apps is Oil and it's now a good time to speak about it because we tent to be more involved and generous this time of year (and it's a good exercise to try to stay like that the whole year), but more about this in a minute.
What is Oil exactly? Well, it's a smartphone app which connects communities, neighbors, friends by sharing food or non-food items and preventing food waste and saving other items to go to landfill. The app is created by two cool women that care a lot about not wasting precious resources we already have. They also wanted a simple way to share food without feeling awkward in some way thinking that maybe the person you donate something to, doesn't really want it. You can find more information about this subject here.
And now let's begin: you can download the app from Google play store. After that, you can proceed to make an account on it, it's very easy. Now you can list an item you want to donate: click on this sign '+'to start sharing. Than make a photo of the product you want to give away or upload one you already have. After that you need to write a title (preferably saying what you’re donating so it’s easier for the next person), a brief description, select food or non-food category, set up the time frame you are available to give this product and the location. After you've finished here, you can change some default settings too if you want: list for 28 days, show to all users immediately, pick up location.
If you see something you want from the app, you can click on the picture and than send a message to the person donating the item and chat about when and where to pick up the non-food item or a wonderful thing to eat. ?? I have already used the app to pick up something I wanted for a long time, but I didn’t want to buy it new because I wanted to use resources already at hand (I was searching for it second hand). It was very easy to use the app and the pick up point was set very close to me, because we are neighbors and Oil is first showing the posts from the area where you live / work / learn. You can have more locations set on the app if you wan or change the number of kilometers shown on it.
Oil is a very user-friendly app and it may help even the homeless people: you can put a post on Oil asking for food or other stuff they need and sharing their location. The app is widely spread in the UK where even the restaurants use it to give away the food they have left at the end of the day and send it to shelter or other places in need. In Bucharest (I don't know if for the rest of the country it's the same), there aren't many users yet, but we can change that by telling our neighbors, relatives, friend, co-workers, at our school about Oil (click on the name to get to their facebook page and stay in touch with the news they post specifically about food waste). For England there are some stats about the app:
2,753,127 portions of food have been shared
8,074,106 equivalent car miles saved
49 countries food has been successfully shared in
Aaaaand (drum roll?) In December Oil is involved in a campaign to stop food waste, especially on this month with all the upcoming holidays and a lot of cooking involved. So, let’s get started together: let’s share that food we don’t eat anymore or we’ve made too much of it, let’s give away those pasta that we don’t cook or that lentil that takes up place in our pantry. Don't be shy, it's very easy to use. You can find more details here. It's the season: let's share more and waste less. Did you use it? If so, let’s chat in the comments, share your experience too. Let's find each other on Oil.
Don't forget to follow the rules
And the continuation of the rules
Example of food listing (I know it's plastic, but it's better than garbage) 
There is also a forum
This is what an Olio account looks like
Corina Ciurea
Article originally published on: https://corinaeco.com/2019/11/27/olio-share-more-waste-less/