MALVERN Link Community Fridge, which re-distributes food from supermarkets that would otherwise go into landfill, has taken delivery of a new weighing scale,  donated by Lucy and Anthony Bennett-Poole, owners of Malvern company Positive Weighing Solutions.

This weighing scale will now enable accurate data recording of food donations and food re-distribution from local supermarkets.

Sarah Clark, community builder at Malvern Link with Cowleigh Church said: “The generous donation of the scale from Lucy and Anthony will make our task at the Community Fridge so much easier. “Having to weigh-in supermarket donations and then weigh any left- overs, this new scale will generate clear data that we need to record.”

Positive Weighing Solutions and the Community Fridge are looking to build on this collaboration with regular on-going visits and data updates on food redistribution as they are both so passionate about reducing food waste.

The Community Fridge began by the Malvern Link with Cowleigh Church two years ago. At first, it was only one Monday morning per week but now it runs on a Wednesday afternoon also. As well as the Community Fridge being a space for people to access food at no cost, they can also have tea, coffee and conversation so it has become a great social Friends Space.

Sarah said: “Since being open we have saved about 18 tonnes of food from going into landfill – this equates to x 18 one cubic yard skips…. or x 18 Black Rhino’s!!!

“We have about 55 households using this service weekly – with a real mixture of young families, couples and single adult households – we are open for anyone and everyone. We are developing our ‘offering’ and will soon be producing recipe cards, basic food kits and possibly cooking sessions.

Sarah said: “Anyone can attend a Community Fridge, as its purpose is to tackle the problem of food waste from supermarkets. The retail sector in the UK contributes around 270,000 tonnes of food waste each year, with supermarkets being a major source of this waste.

“The reasons for food waste from supermarkets is complex – overproduction, consumer aesthetic demands, confusion on labelling, consumer behaviour, supply chain issues, retail practices and lack of food redistribution. At the Community Fridge we are looking to tackle the latter point – as are other Community Fridges nationally and locally.

“The supermarkets we collect from every week are the Co-op, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Tesco, Morrison’s and Aldi. The supermarkets are all very supportive of the Community Fridge network.

The Community Fridge is open to anyone and runs on Monday 10:30am -12pm and Wednesday 3:30pm -4:30pm from the Ascension Hall, Somers Park Avenue, Malvern.

Other community food projects in Malvern are run on Thursday and Friday from St Mary’s Church Hall, Pickersleigh and on Friday at the Octagon Community Centre, Brook Farm Drive.

Sarah said “Collectively, we are all committed to reducing food waste and creating awareness of how people can access these services, especially during a time when living costs are so high for everyone.

“It is great for us to link with the local business Positive Weighing Solutions and we were amazed at their generous donation of the weighing scale to help us.”

Caption: Lucy Bennett- Poole ( left ) and Sarah Clark ( right ) within the Ascension Hall.