Oddbox - 2022 impact report review

The impact report under the spotlight this week is from Oddbox...

👍🏻 3 things I like...

1. DATA FUELS CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT

They gather data and use this to identify areas for improvement, even where they’re doing well already. For example, they gather data weekly on why food was at risk of going to waste.

Data is gold dust! It can provide actionable insight and enable businesses to constantly identify how they could improve have more impact.

2. ASK THEMSELVES BIG QUESTIONS

I love that they’ve asked themselves some big questions. No business is perfect, even the businesses that are doing a lot of good. 

We should always be willing to stand back and ask big strategic (even existential) questions about what we do and how we do it.

They talk about digging deeper into the food waste problem. This is exactly what we need to do with impact – really get to the root cause, and fall in love with the problem rather than the solution.

3. TRY THINGS OUT

When it comes to responsible business, there’s no blueprint. We need to be open to trying stuff out and learning from what happens. 

Oddbox want to reduce the impact of their packaging and are testing out several new options. The reality is that some won't work or could be better.

âť“3 questions it raises

1. HOW BIG A DENT CAN THEY MAKE?

Food waste is a massive global problem. How does their activity and strategy measure up against the size of the problem? What are they doing to make sure their impact is meaningful?

 2. IS THERE A MAXIMUM SIZE THEY COULD BE?

Is their ultimate aim to go out of business? Or for there not to be enough odd food for them to grow further? 

At the moment, this unfortunately feels a long way off – but it can often be a helpful question to explore when thinking about the dent you want to make on the world.

3. WHY DON’T THEY ACCEPT FOOD THAT WAS FLOWN IN AND MIGHT BE WASTED?

I ask this because it’s something I’ve grappled with and I’m curious to hear some different perspectives.

I’ve seen the data on food transportation. Flying food is bad and I avoid food that’s been flown. 

But when I see something that’s on the last day of its shelf life and will otherwise go to waste then isn’t it better that those carbon emissions didn’t happen in vain? 

Wouldn’t the same argument apply if food had already been flown in and was then rejected by retailers for being a bit odd? Or because they didn’t need the same volumes anymore?


***

You can read the report for yourself here and let me know what you think.


If you’re preparing to write your own impact report, you might find my FREE Impact Reporting Roadmap helpful:

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