London’s first community fridge
On 8 February 2017, The People’s Fridge launched the capital’s first community chiller at Pop Brixton.
A community fridge allows local restaurateurs, retailers and residents to pass on surplus food to neighbours who need or simply want it. Community fridges can already be found in counties including Spain, Germany and India. In the UK, there are such schemes in Somerset and Derbyshire.
The People’s Fridge was set up by a group of local volunteers who want to help cut food waste and encourage food sharing. Their crowdfunding campaign passed its £1,000 target in just three days and went on to raise a total of £2,270. The fridge is now run by a group of volunteers and food activists based at Impact Hub Brixton, with the help of local traders who help to stock and clean it each day. The project’s supporters also include the Lambeth Food Partnership, Incredible Edible Lambeth, and the Brixton Pound. The People’s Fridge team now in talks with Lambeth Council to find a suitable, secure street-side location.
While Sustain believes that passing on surplus food does not address the root causes of either food waste or food poverty, its London Food Link team notes that putting the two symptoms together does at least offer some help in the short-term and would love to see more being set up. If you do, please drop us a line! londonfoodlink [at] sustainweb.org
www.crowdfunder.co.uk/peoples-fridge
To help inform and inspire people to set up community fridges, Edventure, the organisation behind the one in Frome, has published this guide.
Read about food surplus and waste
See also the London Food Poverty Campaign
Photo by Sebastian Wood
Published Tuesday 14 February 2017
London Food Link: London Food Link brings together community food enterprises and projects that are working to make good food accessible to everyone in London to help create a healthy, sustainable and ethical food system for all.
