Community shops

[frugledoc]

We have an amazing new resource in our community.  It’s basically a charity that provides a food bank service but also run a community shop.  They drive around the local supermarkets every night and collect all the food that’s gone past its best before, then give it away for free.  I went to check it out and told the organiser I felt a bit guilty taking anything but they reassured me it’s about zero waste and they want to encourage anybody to come and take what they want.  So far in the last week I’ve had bread, fruit, yoghurt, frozen pork chops, frozen venison, cakes, donuts, fruit, veg and more, all stuff I would have bought anyway, and all in perfect condition.  It’s like legitimised dumpster diving.  Even my reluctant wife who eye rolled when I went is now interested in using it after she’s seen what you can get.  Oh, and the volunteers literally force free tea and coffee on you lol.

Anyways, it’s exciting to me, I would love to see things like this elsewhere.

[uk_american1]

If you're into that, also check out the Olio app as it's also a 'zero waste' initiative:  https://olioex.com/

I live in a town with 180k people and it's quite active here. Anyone can give away (or ask for) any item on the app. Volunteers collect from supermarkets and food establishments and then distribute the items from their homes for collection. Volunteers are allowed to keep 10% of what they collect for personal use.

I have done a few volunteer collections for Pret and it's absolutely manic. Normally there are 80-90 items: sandwiches, salads, wraps, juices, hot foods, etc. Then people can request items via the app. It's crazy to me the amount of food that would otherwise be going into the bin.

In my town collections are done for Tesco, Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, Pret, Holland & Barrett, Bookers (a wholesaler) plus a lot of people use it just to clear out food or non-food stuff from their personal homes.

[jade]

That's brilliant .. what a coup. We live fairly rurally atm and tried Olio but nothing doing at the time but I'll see if there's anything new going on. It's a win win for everyone to this though isn't it.. including the environment.