Green Gown Awards 2018 - Lancaster University - Highly Commended

The Lancaster University Campus Community Fridge, the first of its kind in the UK, is helping to reduce food waste, raise awareness of the global issue and make free food accessible to people every day. An ever-growing team of student volunteers coordinate daily collections of unsold food, donated by on-campus providers, with the collected food made freely available for anyone to take via a communal fridge and dry store.

Born out of Lancaster University’s annual Intercollegiate Sustainability Challenge, the project has steadily grown since its official launch in November 2017, with ~1.5 tonnes of food saved from landfill so far, equivalent to ~7.5 tCO2e.

In addition, the project has brought together a community of students, provided volunteering and leadership experience and inadvertently helped several students through periods of food insecurity.

Through its Facebook page which Has over 1,195 followers, the Campus Community Fridge is now inspiring students across the UK and beyond to tackle food-waste.

Top 3 learnings:

• Word of mouth has become a powerful tool for raising awareness of the project indicating that it is well received and popular.
• Although the recipients are easy to attract, constructing and communicating a safe and hassle-free way of working in order to attract donors is essential.
• Inspires an audience greater than first thought. Local communities, UK citizens and people overseas are now inspired to set up their own community fridges and save food waste.

Videos

• Green Gown Awards 2018 – Campus Health, Food and Drink – Lancaster University – Finalist (click to hide)