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Dingwall community fridge project set up during coronavirus crisis helps slash supermarket fresh food waste in Ross-shire county town


By Scott Maclennan

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Fiona Harrison at the Dingwall Community Fridge. Picture: Callum Mackay
Fiona Harrison at the Dingwall Community Fridge. Picture: Callum Mackay

A group of Dingwall volunteers who rallied to help people during the Covid-19 lockdown have taken their efforts a step further by establishing a new community fridge.

The volunteers who came together and helped with the food share that was operating out of the former Scout hut for those hugely disadvantaged by the lockdown hated seeing some of the food go to waste so decided to take action.

They went out and got the funding for two large fridges to be housed in a small hut next to the community centre with location of the site being helped along by Highland Council.

It is also heavily supported by local supermarkets Co-op, Tesco and Lidls who send over food which they cannot sell but which is still fresh and in doing so help reduce food waste that would otherwise go to landfill.

Now the fridge is already up and running and providing a lifeline service for those who need assistance and the volunteers intend to keep it going amid concerns about the impact of the virus in the winter when need could spike again.

One of the volunteers, Fiona Harrison, made the point that it is a point of contact for those feeling vulnerable for people to have a chat with a volunteer almost always on hand.

“I see the value in this because I used to be a person-centred counsellor, from low to high,” she said. “People come down and get a wee bit of chat. I always think that is the part of the joy of this – people can come down and get that support they perhaps don’t get elsewhere.

“We are filling the shelves daily, we have one of the volunteers coming down to do that and we have deliveries on a Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from Tesco. We get deliveries every night from the Co-op in Dingwall and Conon Bridge and we pick-up from Lidls too.

“So there is always fresh food coming in so it is making sure we give people access to that, it would just be going out to landfill which would be such a shame – so this is a way better.

“It is a local community endeavour, we have got a committee of eight and we run it and this is what we got funding from different bodies and we spent it wisely. We knew exactly what we were doing.

“It was quite easy to get the site because the council were very helpful, it is not getting in anyone’s road and hopefully it will bring some people to the community centre when it gets back up and running.

“I think at the moment we are dealing with what is here and what is now, we know things will change so hopefully things will improve but the horrible reality might be something different and there might be greater need for it.

“So we have set it up now so that it is in place and people know about it and there is plenty of opportunity for us to expand – if we needed more of things we could contact those we know within the council hub and New Start and say we need more.

“I think that in all honesty, they would help.”

Related: MSPs hail amazing community response during Covid-19 crisis


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