Community Fridge Volunteer

What is a community fridge?

Food waste is a big issue in the UK and beyond. It’s estimated that a third of all food gets wasted. Most of this is avoidable and could have been eaten had it been better managed.

The idea of a community fridge is a space where surplus food can be donated and collected by anyone, food that would otherwise go to waste.

They are friendly, open to all, accessible and focused on reducing food waste. There is no restriction on the amount of food that can be taken from the fridge, but people are asked to only take what you need and will use.

They are not food banks, and there are no requirements for people register or sign up to use them.

Community Fridge at East Surrey Hospital

Our fridge is located opposite the chapel in the hospital, just by the East Entrance.

It will be open and available all day.  There is a fridge, freezer and shelves for dry goods, bakery items and fresh fruit and vegetables.

We also hope to expand this to include tinned and other non-perishable grocery items, personal care products as well as having general social information available.

We are looking for a number of volunteers to cover the following roles:

The roles would suit people who don’t have much time but would be happy to help on an ad hoc or regular basis and are passionate about Food Waste and food poverty.

There are two roles we are hoping to fill.

Food Collections (10-15 people)

We have partnered with a number of organisations who have agreed to supply us with surplus food.  These include –

• Sainsbury’s - Redhill and some Local outlets
• Pret a Manger - Reigate

There are others we can add when we have an adequate team of collectors -

• Gail’s - Reigate
• Lidl – Crawley
• Aldi – East Grinstead
• Sainsbury’s – East Grinstead

The Community Fridge guide lines state that food must go directly from the point of collection to the fridge, and not for example, taken home first.  This is to maintain food and Health and Safety security.

This means that collections usually have to be made towards the end of the day, or in the morning of the next day, and must go directly to the fridge.  Such collections are needed on a regular basis, at the same time once, or a few times each week.

Fridge maintenance (2-4 people)

The fridge and freezer need to be regularly cleaned. Contents should be checked daily and out of date food discarded. Temperatures of both fridge and freezer should be recorded daily.

Please register to come along to our information Session on Tuesday 30 April at 6pm at East Surrey Hospital.

What skills do I need?

• Physically fit as their will be lifting and carrying involved.
• Needs to have access to a car. 
• Willing to share contact details in a WhatsApp group.
• Provide ID and two references.
• Attend a short food hygiene course.

• Be passionate about food waste/food poverty.