Local environmental charity Love Haslemere Hate Waste is expanding its efforts to reduce waste in the community by launching the town's first Community Fridge this autumn. Known for its monthly Repair Café and permanent Library of Things at Haslemere Library, the charity is now targeting food waste.

The Community Fridge, set to open at Green and Blue Studios on the Unicorn Trading Estate, aims to combat the staggering four million tonnes of good-to-eat food that is wasted by the UK food industry each year. According to the national charity FareShare, this discarded food is enough to provide 10 billion meals.

LHHW said: “Throwing away perfectly good food, just doesn’t make sense. It takes time, energy and money to grow and process food, and even more energy when that food is thrown away.  And with many people struggling with the cost of living crisis, we’d like to see that food redistributed to save people money, and help to look after our planet too.”

The Community Fridge will serve as a hub where residents and businesses can donate surplus food. While meat and dairy won’t be accepted, anything else in good condition is welcome. Anyone can take what they need from the fridge, and there’s no paperwork or costs involved. The fridge will be open daily from 8am to 8pm, offering a convenient way for the community to contribute to reducing food waste.

More information will be shared on the charity’s social media channels in the coming weeks.