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With as much as 40 percent of food being wasted across the globe, food waste is one of the biggest challenges currently faced by the food industry. The challenge of food waste isn’ t just about wasting precious food; it’ s a climate issue. Every carrot, apple, or tomato thrown away means the water and energy used to grow it is wasted too. With around 2.5 billion tons wasted globally each year, food waste is responsible for up to ten percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, Project Drawdown, the world’ s leading guide to science-based climate solutions, has identified‘ reducing food waste’ as one of the top actions to ease climate change.
Focused on tackling food waste on farms, Oddbox is a weekly rescue mission and a certified B Corp business that’ s dedicated to fostering conscious consumerism in the UK. Unlike supermarkets, Oddbox doesn’ t tell farmers what to grow, instead it listens to what has already been grown and is at risk of going to waste, sometimes due to strict cosmetic standards or because the weather has altered and crops have grown faster than planned. As 70 percent of food waste happens at home, Oddbox also helps the community make the most of what’ s in the box through recipes, tips, or inspiring people to try something new.
Established by Emilie Vanpoperinghe and her partner Deepak in 2016, the couple launched Oddbox to a small pool of London-based customers, initially handling distribution and logistics in-house. The operation quickly grew to cover 70 percent of the UK, serving more than 50,000 subscribers. Since its inception, Oddbox has distributed over ten million boxes, which means it has rescued more than 50,000 tons of fruit and veg, equivalent in weight to 9000 elephants!
We sit down with Emilie, Co-Founder and CEO, to learn more about the company’ s impressive growth over the last nine years.
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