Community Fridge Opens at Reece Strawbridge Youth Centre
SAVE food hub set up the Colyton Community Larder in November 2020 to share food with the Colyton community. Initially, it was only operating once a week but now it shares food three times a week in Colyton. Since November, SAVE food hub has handed out approximately 6 tonnes (6,000kg) of food to the people of Colyton which would otherwise have gone to waste. In addition to this, food is also donated to local food banks, community food projects, schools and nurseries.
SAVE food hub was recently awarded a grant by Hubbub and the Co-op to set up a Community Fridge in Colyton. As a result, Colyton Community Larder opened its Community Fridge at the Reece Strawbridge Centre on Thursday 30th September. Having the fridge/freezer in the Community Larder is a game-changer for us. It helps us keep food longer by being able to use the fridge and freezer to keep it to share at a later date. This prevents even more food from going to waste.
Food waste has a massive environmental impact. It is estimated that one-third of all food produced for human consumption is wasted globally. That’s about 1.3 billion tonnes per year. We use an area larger than China to grow food that is never eaten. And it’s not just the food that is wasted either - huge amounts of energy, water, labour, manufacturing, packaging and transportation has been used to get items to our shelves. We just can’t afford to let this go to waste any longer. Tackling food waste could be more effective than solar panels or electric cars as a solution to climate change, so that’s why we are doing our bit here in Colyton.
Vicky who visits Colyton Community Larder said “I come regularly and I have two very hungry boys in my house, so this saves me a lot of money and it also is great for the impact it has on saving the planet. The fact that it would have gone in the bin is quite shocking so I am glad to be making a difference.”
We are so grateful to the Reece Strawbridge Centre for not only letting us run our Community Larder at the premises but also agreeing for us to have our Community Fridge here as well.
Colyton Community Larder is open Thursdays at 8.30 pm, Sundays at 4.00 pm (both at Reece Strawbridge) and on Fridays at 9 am (at Umborne Bridge). Everyone is welcome to drop in. We would encourage local people to come along to claim some free surplus food.
SAVE food hub, which runs Colyton Community Larder, is a volunteer-led community group that shares surplus food with the community to prevent it from going to waste. The group collects food, which is nearing its Best Before or Use By date, from local supermarkets and food suppliers. Any food which can be used by local food banks is set aside for them as a priority and the rest is made available for the community to use.