Get the Glasgow stories that matter to you sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter Sign me up Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A community fridge is opening in Pollokshields in a bid to reduce food waste and encourage sharing between locals.

The Pollokshields Development Agency (PDA) Goes Green Community Fridge is the first of its kind in the area and will launch on February 20 in Maxwell Road.

It looks to enable residents and local businesses to share surplus food and for anyone to help themselves to quality food that would otherwise be wasted.

The initiative is being run by the PDA and supported by the environmental charity Hubbub and enabled by a grant from the Scottish Government's Climate Challenge Fund.

The fridge is part of a first wave of Community Fridge Network fridges in Scotland which will reduce food waste whilst bringing people together and encouraging a spirit of sharing within communities.

Scottish Green Party councillor for Pollokshields ward, Jon Molyneux, will cut a green ribbon to launch the Community Fridge followed by a celebration lunch and activities.

He said: “A community fridge is a really simple idea which can stop the needless waste of perfectly good food, saving money and fighting climate breakdown.

"I’m delighted that the people of Pollokshields are going to be among the first in Glasgow to benefit from this exciting opportunity.”

The fridge will be run by Pollokshields Development Agency, which for the last 25 years have been promoting cohesion, integration and social inclusion in Glasgow through developmental and educational programmes.

The charity will welcome donations of unopened, packaged foods within their use by date and raw fruit or vegetables, which will then be available to anyone in the community to take.

As well as reducing food waste, the group will use the fridge to strengthen community bonds, become a hub for food education and climate conversations, promoting the benefits of the sharing economy, addressing health and wellbeing and reducing social isolation.

The Pollokshields fridge is one of the first Community Fridges to be launched in Scotland, with others launching this Spring in Gorebridge, Dundee and Kirkcaldy.

The very first Community Fridge in Scotland opened on the Isle of Mull in late 2018 and is already a resounding success. The five Scottish fridges bring to 50 the total number of Community Fridges now up and running across the UK.

Food waste is a big issue in Scotland. Every household throws away on average £460 worth of food every year. Most of that waste (around 60 per cent) is avoidable and could have been eaten had it been better managed.

The Scottish Government has recently introduced a target to reduce food waste in Scotland by 33 per cent by 2025 and Hubbub’s Community Fridge Network has been praised by Zero Waste Scotland for its approach to tackling the issue.

Ylva Haglund, food waste campaigns manager, Zero Waste Scotland, said: “Scotland is committed to reducing food waste and Community Fridges are a brilliantly simple way of using up quality fresh food that would otherwise be thrown away.

"It’s exciting to see the growing trend for Community Fridges in Scotland and we hope other communities across the country will follow suit when they see the positive impact they can make.

“It’s great to see the commitment from Pollokshields Development Agency to make the PDA Goes Green fridge a success and we particularly thank the Climate Challenge Fund for making this project possible.”

The community fridge will be open from February 21 on Monday-Wednesday and Friday, (10.30am to 2.30pm) and Thursday (12pm to 4pm).

More information on The Community Fridge Network, including a map of fridge locations and advice for those interested in setting up a Community Fridge can be found here .