Community Fridge
Higher Blackley’s Community Fridge is for everyone!
We're open every Monday during term time,
3:15pm - 4pm.
We are now closed for Christmas and will reopen on Monday 13 January 2025.
We'll keep you updated on opening times via the academy’s Facebook page.
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 for 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 standalone unit just off the academy’s main site – accessed through gate 5.
There is no need to register. Visitors should only take what they need and will use to avoid waste. In the spirit of fairness, we may ask each family to take a limited amounts of products so that more people can benefit.
Personal hygiene items, including sanitary products, are also sometimes available.
How to donate
There is a donation box in the main academy reception. Donations are also accepted at the fridge (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 our visitors to the Fridge 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 to the Fridge. Please get in touch with us if we need to explore a different solution for your family.