A Stirling initiative which offers free excess food donated by supermarkets is operating from new premises.
Stirling Community Food, run by environmental charity Transition Stirling, started a small ‘community fridge’ at the Kitchen at 44 premises in King Street just as last March’s lockdown began.
However, as it grew in popularity, larger premises were required and it now operates from 5 Wellgreen Lane in the city.
Since its launch Stirling Community Food has prevented over forty-three tonnes of food from going to landfill and provided free food to more than 3000 people.
Transition Stirling Stirling Community Food co-ordinator Carly Ramsay said: “Anyone can access the community fridge and take what they need – no questions asked.
“Instead of large supermarkets putting large volumes of excess and near-sell-by-date food in the bin, the project collects the excess food and offers it to everyone in the community for free.
“Customers can collect many fresh bakery goods, frozen foods and flowers as well as a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables.
“Our team of volunteers have supported us day-in, day-out for the past nine months to create a welcoming atmosphere and redistribute a staggering amount of food. We really couldn’t operate on this scale without them.”
Community Fridges, also referred to as Community Food Larders, have been successfully introduced in Spain, Germany and other parts of the UK.
The food for the Stirling project is sourced from city branches of Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, the Co-op, Aldi and and Lidl as well as supermarket branches in Bridge of Allan and Dunblane.
Funding for the scheme has come from Stirling Council and 115 people have also donated a total of £2852 to a Crowfunding campaign.
Carly added: “Due to the consequences of coronavirus we had more work to do than expected. The community fridge has not only saved valuable food from going to waste, but has helped foster community spirit in a time of physical separation. I have been blown away with the support of local businesses and the project has been well received by the local community.”
The Wellgreen Lane premises are also the headquarters of Transition Stirling.
Funding for the move came from coronavirus recovery programmes including Adapt and Thrive and the Community Recovery Fund.
As well as Stirling Community Food, Transition Stirling will also be running a variety of initiatives from 5 Wellgreen Lane including a ‘share and repair’ project, workshops and film screenings.
Transition Stirling project manager Emma Erwin commented: “The bigger space allows everyone to stay safe with better social distancing.
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“We’ll be able to bring all Transition Stirling’s projects under one roof. We’ll begin a zero waste shop, selling package free food to generate an income to ensure Stirling Community Food can exist without depending on funding.
“Further funding from Stirling Council through the Flexible Food Fund will also greatly support our work allow us to provide more fresh fruit and vegetables so that we can provide a wider range of nutritious food.”
■ Stirling Community Food is open at 5 Wellgreen Lane seven days a week between 10am and noon.
