London’s first “community fridge” has launched in Brixton to provide food to those who need it.
The People’s Fridge is a public fridge where local businesses and residents can leave spare, edible food to help others.
The fridge, which launches on Wednesday, is run by a group of local volunteers and aims to cut food waste, encourage food sharing and help tackle food poverty.
Hundreds of similar fridges have already been launched in Spain, Germany, and India as well as in Frome, Somerset and Derbyshire, but this is the first time the concept has been brought to London.
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Sebastian Wood
The new fridge was made possible after a team of Brixton residents, food activists and market traders launched a successful crowdfunding campaign.
The team, headed up by Olivia Haughton, Rebecca Trevalyan, Sebastian Wood and Ben Longman, decided to launch the initiative in London during a course at Impact Hub Brixton, where people had come together to find ways to make a positive change to the food system in Lambeth.
The group managed to raise more than £2,000 through crowdfunding, which will be used to cover the set up of the fridge as well as outreach events, promoting community sharing.
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Sebastian Wood
From left to right: Ben Longman, Olivia Haughton, Rebecca Trevalyan and Sebastian Wood
According to the founders, food waste is a huge issue in the UK and is valued at around £17 billion each year, with restaurants throwing away 900,000 tonnes of food each year.
On average, UK households throw away the equivalent of 24 edible meals a month, meaning Lambeth households alone throw away nearly 40 million meals within 12 months.
But this food could be going to better use as currently, 8.4 million people in the UK - about the size of London’s population - live in food insecurity.
The People’s Fridge helps to bridge this gap. Open to anyone, it offers a secure, managed place for retailers, restaurants and individuals to share fresh food with those who need it.
Anyone can donate food or take it out and its presence provides a visible focus for cutting food waste and helps boost the sharing economy in London.
The new fridge is situated in the heart of Brixton inside foodie hotspot Pop Brixton, whose traders have agreed to help stock and clean the fridge each day.
If all goes to plan, the team behind the London fridge hope to help others set up community fridges across the UK.
Food waste facts
We're losing money(01 of15)
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Wasting edible food costs the average household £470 a year, rising to £700 a year for households with children. (credit:Zoonar RF via Getty Images)
It's not rocket science(02 of15)
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Brits waste seven million tonnes of food a year, and up to 60% of that could have been eaten. We throw away good food for two main reasons: we either cook or prepare too much, or don't use it in time. (credit:fuzzbones0 via Getty Images)
But it's a LOT of food(03 of15)
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The amount of that which we could have eaten or drunk is 4.2 million tonnes - enough to fill 8,400 Olympic-sized swimming pools. (credit:Veronica Garbutt via Getty Images)
Really, a lot(04 of15)
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Or, if you'd like to imagine it another way, it would fill 210 Royal Albert Halls or five Wembley Stadiums. (credit:shutterstock)
We start but we don't finish(05 of15)
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Of that, the majority (2 million tonnes) is food that is either unopened, or started but not finished - for example half a loaf of bread, or an unused slide of bacon. (credit:Thomas J Peterson via Getty Images)
Food waste is worse in our homes(06 of15)
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While there's been lots of attention supermarkets, most food waste in the UK - 70% after food leaves farms - comes from our homes.
In comparison, supermarkets generate about 2%, while food manufacturing is responsible for 17%. The hospitality and food service industry, such as restaurants, accounts for 9%. (credit:Ridofranz via Getty Images)
Even worse than another big problem(07 of15)
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Every year, people in the UK throw away more food from our homes than packaging. (credit:ShotShare via Getty Images)
The common culprits(08 of15)
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The most-wasted types of food and drink that could have been used are bread, potato, milk, fizzy drinks, fruit juice and smoothies, poultry, pork, ham and bacon, cakes and pastries. (credit:SSPL via Getty Images)
Wasting good wine(09 of15)
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We also throw away £270 million worth of wine form our homes each year, as well as £200 million worth of soft drinks, and £150 million worth of fruit juice and smoothies. (credit:Nicolas Wayne via Getty Images)
Nothing wrong with wonky(10 of15)
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One of the biggest problems is prejudice over "wonky" fruit and veg - nearly a third of us (30%) told Sainsbury's we would throw a banana away if it has even a small bruise, wasting perfectly edible fruit. (credit:SageElyse via Getty Images)
Gaseous problem(11 of15)
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Most wasted food that reaches landfill sits through our rubbish system emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas 25 times more powerful than CO2, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climae Change. (credit:Louise Murray / robertharding via Getty Images)
But it's not all bad news(12 of15)
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Between 2007 and 2012, the UK's avoidable food waste has reduced by 21%, over one million tonnes. That amount of food would fill 23 million wheelie bins. (credit:Emma Farrer via Getty Images)
More money for councils(13 of15)
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This reduction in residual waste saved councils around £85 million from sending less food to landfill in 2012 alone. (credit:gkrphoto via Getty Images)
And less water wasted(14 of15)
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Not to mention a billion litres of water that would have been used to grow and produce the food. (credit:Hemera Technologies via Getty Images)
Saving the planet(15 of15)
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Stopping food waste also has a huge benefit for the planet - removing all wasted food would save 4.4 million tonnes of CO2 a year - the equivalent to taking one in four cars off the road. (credit:TomasSereda via Getty Images)