There's a community fridge in Brixton where you can donate food to those in need

Here are some stats that’ll leave a bad taste in your mouth. Each year in the UK we throw away around £17 billion worth of food. UK households discard an average of 24 edible meals a month, but at the same time, 8.4 million people in the UK (that's about the same size as London’s population) live in food insecurity.

In the face of these stats, a group of Londoners hoping to tackle the problem have created London’s first community fridge. The People’s Fridge, which launched this week at Pop Brixton, is run by a group of local volunteers and aims to slash food waste, support food sharing and tackle poverty.  

Anyone can donate food or take it from the fridge, and the retailers at Pop Brixton will help stock and clean it every day. Bought and paid for by the public through a crowdfunding campaign that broke its £1,000 target in just three days, the fridge aims to be a secure place for retailers, restaurants and individuals to share fresh food with those who need it most. It joins hundreds of similar projects around the world including fridges launched in Spain, Germany, India, and elsewhere in the UK.

The People's Fridge is at Pop Brixton, 49 Brixton Station Rd, Brixton, SW9 8PQ.

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Photo: Sebastian Wood