'I was sleeping rough and using crack cocaine - now I'm helping solve the UK's food waste crisis'

'I was sleeping rough and using crack cocaine - now I'm helping solve the UK's food waste crisis' EXCLUSIVE Teresa Kemp told the Mirror how her volunteering with food waste app Olio has changed her life after overcoming massive obstacles like sleeping rough and using crack cocaine A former crack-cocaine user who spent more than a year sleeping rough has become one of the beating hearts of an organisation tackling the UK's food waste crisis. Teresa Kemp, 51, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, is a Food Waste Hero for Olio, a money-saving app that connects people with free food, clothes and other items as part of a major waste-busting movement. Ms Kemp has made more than 800 collections from supermarkets in her area, taking surplus food that would otherwise end up in waste streams and redistributing them across her community. Her involvement in the organisation, which has an impact on people across the UK and beyond, comes following what has been a major transformation for Teresa, who has overcome years of adversity, including a year-and-a-half of homelessness. Speaking to the Mirror, Teresa said she spent her childhood in care, which she entered from the age of 12, and found herself occasionally getting into trouble. She said: "I ended up getting into trouble with the police. Just minor things, nicking cars. And then I ended up on heroin and crack cocaine." Teresa said she used drugs until quitting in the 2010s, and has been clean for the last 12 years. But she was homeless for longer, and spent 18 months sleeping rough living under bridges and even in scrapyards during the pandemic. In 2020, she downloaded the Olio app on a whim, telling us that she initially knew nothing about Food Waste Heroes, Olio's volunteers who pick up unsold surplus from businesses. Food Waste Heroes are sent out to many different types of business, including convenience stores, catering sites, hospitality firms, and supermarkets. The app conducts an ID verification to make sure that each of its heroes are genuine players in the movement. Once they're cleared, they take the surplus food home, take pictures of what they've recovered, and list it on the app for users to request and collect. Their efforts make a dent in the significant amount of food waste that takes place in the UK, with the latest data from the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) showing that British households waste between 9.5 to 10.7 million tonnes of food each year. Teresa started volunteering for the programme in 2024 after getting a flat, and since then has made nearly 800 collections, and taken on a role as a squad captain for three stores: Holland & Barrett, Boots and Sainsbury's. Squad captains lead teams of Food Waste Heroes and keep Olio's collections running smoothly, allowing the organisation to share as much food as it can. While bringing food to those in need has helped out her community, Teresa has also positively changed herself, finding Olio's network could provide a huge social boost. "Since doing Olio, I've lowered on my medication for my mental health. And the friends I've made... it'unbelievable," she said. Teresa added that she and other Olio users have become a close knit group who call themselves the "Golden Girls". Thanks to the app, she said: "Now, instead of sitting in a flat, I can chat with people on WhatsApp, I can go out." She added: "I’ve also lost close to four stone as I am so much more active than I used to be. It’s been a huge improvement to my health. I can genuinely say that volunteering with Olio has changed my life. I'm doing something meaningful, helping others, and I finally feel proud of myself." The social benefits felt by Teresa and her fellow volunteers have influenced Olio to measure its development as an organisation by assigning a monetary value to its social impact. Using MeasureUp, an open-source analysis framework that measures and values social impact, Olio found that it has made a £1.1 billion impact since it launched in 2015. More than £380 million of that total, the organisation said, comes from the value of improved mental wellbeing, volunteering and physical activity, came in 2025 alone. Of their 9.3 million users around the world Olio says that 65 percent say they made new friends through sharing, 75 percent have improved their mental health, and 84 percent have reported improved financial wellbeing. Tessa Clarke, Co-founder of Olio along with Saasha Celestial-One, and the organisation's CEO, described the app as a "movement", adding: "When we started Olio, success was measured in meals shared and carbon emissions prevented. "But over the years we realised something even more profound was happening. People told us they were making friends through Olio, feeling less isolated, becoming more physically active and finding purpose through volunteering. Those stories mattered every bit as much as the environmental impact, but until now we'd never been able to quantify them. "Businesses have become very good at measuring financial performance and, increasingly, environmental impact. I hope this is the beginning of a much wider movement towards measuring social value too. Because if we're serious about reimagining the role of business in society, we need to start recognising and rewarding the businesses that create the greatest value for people, not just the greatest returns for shareholders." [Image text:] Chied bern Frult 5a day