VOLUNTEERS at the Westbury Community Fridge say that they have seen a sharp drop in donations of bakery goods in the past year, but they have seen an increase in fresh food donations in the same period.
Volunteers from the Westbury Area Network are tasked with keeping the community fridge topped up with food items that would otherwise go to waste – such as bakery goods from local supermarkets and fresh fruit and veg. The food is available to everyone in the town, regardless of your financial situation, as it is designed to reduce the amount of food that goes to landfill in Westbury.
A Westbury Area Network spokesperson said, “At Westbury Community Fridge, our volunteers remain busy trying to help combat food waste. They continue collecting from local supermarkets, where the food that is still fresh enough to consume would ordinarily go to landfill. Local people are becoming more aware of what we do, and we are seeing a greater increase in those coming along to the community fridge.
“We have noticed that during January 2023 we received 743.71kg of bakery goods, and for January 2024 we have noticed that this has fallen to 468.62kg. Although, those who regularly use the community fridge may be disappointed by these figures, looking at this from the perspective of what we are trying to achieve, we are encouraged that the message is being received by the supermarkets. We shall continue to monitor this throughout the year.
“In terms of fresh produce, we received 102.45kg in January 2023, but there was an increase to 139.72kg in January 2024. We would ask any local gardeners who may have surplus amounts of fruit and vegetables later on in the season, please feel free to donate to the Westbury Community Fridge. All those that come along to the community fridge are always very pleased with fresh produce.
“Thank you to all those that come along to make sure that nothing goes to waste; we really appreciate your support. We often have people coming to collect food for themselves as well as for their friends and neighbours. We are more than happy for people to do this, but we just ask people to make sure that what they are collecting is going to get used.
“We are based on Eden Vale Road in the Westbury Community Project building. We are open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings, from 10.30am to 11.30am. Thank you to all those that continue to support the work that we do.”
For more information about Westbury Area Network visit www.westburyareanetwork.org
