Practice English Listening B1+ Exercises – Don’t throw it away!

A

1 neighbours   2 businesses   3 sell-by date   4 baker’s

5 fridge   6 share   7 photo   8 message

Part 1

I = interviewer, T = Tessa

I   Tessa, can you explain what OLIO is, exactly?

T   So, OLIO is a free app which connects neighbours with each other and with local businesses so that surplus food can be shared and not thrown away.

I   What kinds of food?

T   It could be food that’s near its sell-by date in local shops, or home-grown vegetables that you’re not going to eat, or bread from your baker’s that hasn’t been sold at the end of the day, or the food that’s in your fridge when you’re about to go away. Any food that people have that they’re not going to use.

I   And how does the app work?

T   It’s super easy! If you have some food that you want to share, you simply open the app, add a photo and a description, and say when and where the food can be collected from. And if you’re looking for some food, you just put in your postcode and send a message to the person who’s offering the food you want, and then you arrange a time to go and collect it.

B

1   Because she lived on a farm as a child, and learned how much hard work goes into producing food.

2   She was moving from Switzerland and packing up her flat, and she didn’t want to throw away good food.

3   She was very excited.

Part 2

I   So how did you come up with the idea?

T   Well, I’ve always been worried about food waste. My parents have a farm in the north of England, in North Yorkshire, and I learned as a child how much hard work goes into producing the food that we all eat. And so I grew up with the belief that food should be eaten; it ought not to be thrown away. But I got the idea for the app when I was living in Switzerland and I was packing up my flat because I was going to move back to the UK. When the removal people came to take all my things, I still had in my fridge some potatoes, a cabbage, and some pots of yogurt. The men told me to throw away the food, but it seemed such a terrible thing to do, to throw away good food. The removal men didn’t want it, and my neighbours were out, and I thought to myself, ‘This is absolutely crazy…This food is delicious. Why isn’t there an app where I can share it with someone nearby who wants it?’ And so the idea for OLIO was born…When I told my friend Saasha about it…

I   You co-founded OLIO with your friend Saasha, is that right?

T   Yes. Saasha has always been passionate about recycling, and when I told her my idea, her eyes immediately lit up – she got very excited. In just an hour of talking, we’d come up with a name and made a plan.

C

In the UK, the average family throws away £700 worth of food each year.

One in three people feel really terrible when they throw away good food.

They invited 12 people from the research survey, who said they hated throwing away good food, to join a closed WhatsApp group.

They asked them to post photos of any surplus food they had into the group for two weeks, and see if anyone wanted it.

The first item someone posted was half a bag of onions!

They launched the OLIO app on 9th July 2015.

Now the app is being used in 41 countries.

A man messaged Tessa to say that someone had collected his vegetables within an hour after he posted on OLIO.

Part 3

I   So what happened next?

T   The first thing we did was some research, in order to understand how big the problem of food waste was, and what we discovered truly shocked us. For example, did you know that in the UK, the average family throws away seven hundred pounds’ worth of food each year? That adds up to twelve point five billion…twelve point five billion pounds that’s going straight in the bin! But our research also showed that one in three people feel really terrible when they throw away good food. But just because people hate throwing away food, that doesn’t mean they’ll take the next step, which is to share food. We needed a cheap and quick way to test whether our food sharing idea would work.

I   How did you do that?

T   We invited twelve people from our research survey, who said they hated throwing away good food, and we put them all in a closed WhatsApp group. We asked them to post photos of any surplus food they had into the group for two weeks, and see if anyone wanted it. Eventually, someone posted an item – half a bag of onions! And then more and more items of food were shared. Then, when the trial was over, we met face-to-face with everybody who took part, and asked for feedback. The conclusion was unanimous – ‘it’s an amazing idea’.

I   So when did you actually launch the app?

T   We launched it on the ninth of July, twenty fifteen. The very first version of the app could only be used in North London. But now it’s being used in forty-one countries.

I   So people love it and are using it?

T   Absolutely. We get loads of messages on our website, and there was one the other day from this guy – I’m going to read it to you – he said, ‘I had some vegetables I knew I wouldn’t have time to eat and within an hour they’d been collected and I suddenly felt like a hero!’ That’s so great. People are helping each other, and helping the planet, and feeling good all at the same time.