Community Fridge
Higher Blackley's Community Fridge
Opening days & times:
Wednesdays, 11.30am - 12.30pm
Thursdays, 11.30am - 12.30pm
Fridays, 3.30 - 4pm
(term time only)
The Community Fridge is located to the left of the main academy building. The gate will be open to allow access. The car park area will still be gated off. Therefore, users are asked not to drive onto the site.
What is a Community Fridge?
Community Fridges work on an honesty basis and are housed in accessible places, making surplus food freely available to local people. Surplus perishable food is donated by businesses or members of the public and then made available to all. They are open to everyone, regardless of means and are not a food bank, or a solution to food poverty.
Community Fridges are friendly, accessible and community-led initiatives where users can share recipes and spark ideas around wider social and environmental action.
A third of all food produced for humans globally goes to waste. The average UK household can save £60 a year by avoiding food waste. Community Fridges are a tried and tested way of reducing the environmental impact of food waste, which is a huge issue.
How does it work?
Higher Blackley’s Community Fridge is housed in a green, standalone unit accessed through gate 1.
There is no need to register. Visitors should come no more than once a week and should only take what they need and will use. In the spirit of fairness, we may ask each family to take a limited amount of products so that more people can benefit – this varies depending on the stock we have available.
Personal hygiene items, including sanitary products, are also sometimes available.
How to donate
Donations are accepted at the main academy reception or at the unit when it is open.
If you are a business and would like to donate food or personal hygiene items, email manc-community-m@coopacademies.co.uk
WE CAN’T ACCEPT
× Foods without a complete list of ingredients, including all allergens
× Cooked food from your home or unregistered sources
× Unpasteurised milk
× Cooked rice
× Raw milk cheeses
× Pâtés
× Bean sprouts
× Products which could contain any of the above ingredients
× Unlabelled multiple ingredient items
× Alcohol
× Products that contain alcohol
× Energy drinks
Students and young people
We would prefer that visitors to the unit are adults. This is because:
- we are asking for a responsible member of a family to be taking food on behalf of that family
- we are asking for a responsible member of a family to ensure food taken will not be wasted
- we want to ensure that the Fridge is a calm and orderly space for our visitors
Therefore, we will not usually allow unsupervised children access. Please get in touch with us if we need to explore a different solution for your family.