In 3 short month's we've saved 2.4 tonne of food going to landfill and managed to distribute it to over 500 people.

We've run cooking workshops, demonstrating different ways to use pumpkin in recipes, fermenting workshops to demonstrate how to prolong (and increase nutrition of) veg, workshops how to decorate pumpkins without cutting them, soap making workshops, we've had mental health drop ins in partnership with RamH, we've given away hot soup, hosted a free Christmas meal and distributed boxes created by Police Scotland Youth to families in need. The funding has allowed us to pay the initial rent and electricity costs and get planning permission.

Propagate is a worker led collective specialising in local, community and sustainable food projects. We work mostly across Central and SouthWest Scotland.

Propagate works collaboratively to co-create equitable, healthy and resilient food systems.

We believe food systems change offers real solutions to addressing our climate, nature and cultural emergency.

Action plan:

Timeline:

We will open the community fridge in September.  The steering group will meet once a month for the first six months.

The Community shop in which the fridge will be located will also launch in September.

Budget:

£600 for change of use for building with the council

£100 for 7000 flyers to ensure every household is aware of the fridge

£1800 for rent costs for first three months (to cover incase delay in other funding arriving)

£168/ month for water and electricity for first three months (to cover incase delay in other funding arriving)

Item.                                                        Cost

Change of use for building                     600

Flyers                                                         100

Rent costs                                                 1800

Utility costs                                                 504

Fridge and Freezer cost                            2000

Total                                                           5004

Impact:

Our community will benefit from an increase in availability of free fresh food, which will have health and money saving benefits.

• We will create case studies of a few volunteers to record the impact the community fridge has on their buying and eating habits.


• We will weigh items as they are added to the fridge and will invite users to weigh the products they take them from the fridge.


• We will also weigh any products which aren’t able to be distributed.  It should be noted any “waste” will go to the community composting to be transformed into compost to grow more food for the community.


• We will create bold visuals in store to demonstrate how much food has been saved from landfill via the community fridge.


• We will have regular cookery workshops to demonstrate how to make quick and healthy meals, as part of this we will distribute recipe cards, which will be created in Partnership with Totnosh (who run cookery classes locally already).


• We will also run workshops on preserving vegetables to increase knowledge and again to reduce food waste.

Location:

The community fridge will be located inside a new community shop called “Blether” located on the Main Street in Neilston.

• It has big glass windows, perfect for creating a vibrant and welcoming space, which a local artist will decorate and develop seasonally.


• We have applied for a change of use with the council (the unit is currently used as a cookery school) and are registering as a food business.  The owner of this unit is part of the steering group.