Economy Minister Conor Murphy has welcomed an innovative partnership between Northern Ireland Screen and community-sharing app Olio to collect unconsumed food from large scale film and high-end TV productions to share with local families in need.
The collaboration, which reflects Northern Ireland Screen’s sustainability strategy, comes after the service was successfully trialled on two productions earlier this year.
These trials bore excellent results, with over 1,000 meals redistributed to local families and communities.
Northern Ireland Screen has now embarked upon a one-year partnership with Olio through their Food Waste Heroes Programme, which will help eliminate any edible food going to waste from film and TV sets.
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Economy Minister Conor Murphy commented: “This innovative partnership between NI Screen and Olio is a great example of how the screen industry can work collaboratively with the community and voluntary sector to create a more just and sustainable circular economy. By engaging the Olio food waste app, the industry is not only reducing its carbon footprint but also supporting those most in need.”
Richard Williams, Northern Ireland Screen Chief Executive Officer, said the introduction of the food waste app to the local industry will deliver immediate and tangible results.
“By teaming up with Olio, we are signalling our desire to tackle food waste and hunger while also supporting local communities in need.
“The initiative aligns with our commitment to sustainability, and we look forward to obtaining excellent results through the Food Heroes Programme across more than 20 productions in the near future.”
Olio provides a food sharing platform where production caterers can notify local volunteers about available food at the end of each shooting day.
The Food Waste Heroes programme helps these individuals and their families in an anonymous and stigma-free way that encourages broader participation than charity-only models, which many self-select out of.
Previously, a large-scale feature film saw Olio volunteers prevent 128.5kg of food from going to waste by making sure it ended up with 41 households instead. That meant 302 meals were redistributed in the local community, while 546.5kg of CO2 emissions were avoided by circumventing the methane-emitting food in landfill.
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Similarly, during the production of TV drama series, Olio volunteers rescued 295.3kg from waste by ensuring it ended up feeding 89 households instead. In this connection, 664 meals were redistributed and 1,202kg of C02 emissions were avoided.
Saasha Celestial-One, Olio Co-Founder and COO, said the new annual partnership, which allows for 106 weeks of shooting, equating to around 23 productions, was great news in the ongoing fight against food waste.
“We're really proud to be joining forces with Northern Ireland Screen to fight food waste on set across their upcoming productions,” she said.
“It's a hugely powerful commitment to giving back to communities surrounding their filming locations, with hundreds of families set to benefit from the food shared via this partnership.
“It's also another important step to building more sustainable film sets in the future and setting a precedent for other production companies in Northern Ireland to follow suit.”
The new partnership, funded by Northern Ireland Screen, forms an integral part of its commitment to championing a sustainable industry and to deliver its net zero and sustainability agenda.
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