Plans to set up 'community fridge' in Dorchester

It will be used to pass on, for free, food which otherwise might be disposed of.

Talks are also being held to set up similar ventures in Bridport, Beaminster and Blandford with schemes already in operation in the east of the county.

Dorchester town councillors have welcomed the idea after hearing that funding is already available and all that is needed is a suitable location in the county town.

Naomi Mason, from Public Health Dorset, told the town council’s management committee in an online meeting on Monday evening that up to 400 other food fridges, or community fridges, as they are also known, are already in operation across the country.

Their aim is to reduce the amount of food which would otherwise go to waste – taking donations from supermarkets, local food producers, bakers, allotment holders and others.

She said they had proved popular with people who might feel unable to use foodbanks, explaining that their primary aim was to reduce food waste. She said an estimated 68,000 people in the county were judged to be in moderate food insecurity, many of which felt unable to attend a food bank.

She said talks had been held about several sites in Dorchester, so far without success, with the organisers looking for a position where many people were likely to walk by. “We almost want people to trip over it…the more open it is the better, possibly in a shop frontage or somewhere like that,” she said.

She told the meeting that it was believed Dorchester, in time, could sustain two community food fridges with one being based in the town centre, the other at Poundbury. If successful the idea could also be extended to villages.

Suggestions for sites in Dorchester made by councillors during the meeting included the library foyer, the sheds at the Dorchester market site, the Borough gardens, an empty shop in the town centre.

Said committee chair Fiona Kent-Ledger: “We will do what we can and keep an eye out for a suitable spot.”