Environmental charity Hubbub will create the world’s first Community Fridge network, with 50 food waste fridges established across the UK in the next year.
Georgina Wilson-Powell
Fri 18 Aug 2017
Working with Sainsburys, Bosch and the North London Waste Authority, Hubbub will create fridges that can be filled with perishable food by anyone who wants to help tackle food poverty and redistribute food waste in their local community.
The food and restaurant industries in the UK waste £3 billion worth of food each year. 8.4 million people in the UK in 2017 live in ‘food insecurity'.
The People’s Fridge in Brixton was launched earlier this year and has been highly successful, with other community fridges having been established in Spain and Germany over the last few years.
The People's Fridge in Brixton launched in February
Image Sebastian Wood
What is a Community Fridge?
Each set up is likely to have two fridges and a freezer. The latter and a fridge will hold food that would have gone to waste from local businesses and restaurants and the food will go to people who are struggling through a local network. The remaining fridge will work like an honesty box where anyone can leave and take food. The fridges will have set opening times, be monitored by CCTV and meet strict hygiene standards.
Despite some scepticism of whether people can be trusted to use these fridges safely and responsibly the feedback from trials in London have been overwhelmingly positive.
While food poverty is a growing issue, developments like these networks can help build communities and help struggling people and cut down on food waste.
