(Author: Carly S)
As collective outrage grows over the amount of good food wasted globally, innovative and creative solutions to this problem are appearing all over the world.
Residents in the Basque Country town, Galdokoa, in Spain have come up with a simple and brilliant solution to the problem of food waste in their area by starting a communal fridge, the “frigorífico solidario” or solidarity fridge.
Residents can drop off any surplus food they might have and it’s free for anyone to take. The fridge has a wooden fence built around it so it isn`t mistaken for an abandoned appliance and so far it’s been an outstanding success.
There are a few rules though. Raw meat, fish and eggs not allowed, neither is food past it's used by date. Volunteers check and clean out the fridge daily for any food that might have gone bad, but according to volunteers, nothing lasts long.
"Restaurants drop off their leftover tapas at night — and they're gone by next morning," says volunteer Javier Goikoetxea. "We even have grannies who cook especially for this fridge.”
What a cool idea. Wouldn’t it be great if every town had a communal fridge?
At Eat United we are passionate about fighting food waste and hunger and love seeing groups and individuals across the world coming up with solutions. It inspires us, and it feels great to be part of a growing, global movement.
Maybe one day we’ll see communal fridges here in Managua but right now we fight food waste by collecting good food from the market that is destined to be wasted and sharing it with people that need it.
What’s happening in the fight against food waste in your area? We’d love to hear. Drop us an email or connect with us on social media. Working together we can make food waste and hunger something that used to happen in the olden days.
If you want to read more about this awesome project in Spain here are a couple of links