More Community Fridges for Cambridge

The UK bins a staggering 9.5 million tonnes of food every year, 70% of which could have been eaten. This is equivalent to over £19 billion and 25 million tonnes of harmful greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change.

Helping to reduce that food waste is the Community Fridge movement. The concept is simple: give, take, share. Businesses and individuals leave surplus food for the community to collect and enjoy.  Aside from stopping edible food from going to landfill, the fridges connect communities and increase access to nutritious, affordable food. 

In 2019 there were 95 community fridges and share houses around the UK, eight in Cambridgeshire.  Cambridge’s first Community Fridge, run by The Edge Café on Mill Road in partnership with CSF, opened in 2017 and saved a whopping half tonne of food in its first six months. “It’s fulfilling a real need and has given the community a sense of inclusivity and friendliness,” according to The Edge Café staff.

With funding from Cambridge City Council, CSF is set to open three more fridges in Spring 2020. The first will open at Brown’s Field Youth & Community Centre in East Chesterton on 12th March, followed soon after by fridges at Buchan Street Neighbourhood Centre in Kings Hedges and a new community space at 15 Barnwell Road run by Abbey People and Barnwell Baptist Church.

Volunteers are needed to help collect surplus food from businesses in the city and deliver it to the community fridges. If you can help, please sign up here. If you know of a food business that would like to donate surplus food to the scheme, please ask them to sign up here.