Street Fridges Must Be The Future

According to experts, 30% (1.3 billion tonnes) of all food produced worldwide is wasted annually. When we've finished eating half our sandwich, it goes right into the trash. We assume that 'best by' dates on eggs are written in stone, so dump them maybe too early. We buy a dozen cupcakes, eat two and discard the rest once our craving passes. Obviously there are cities that adopt the 'put food on top of the trash bin' mentality so the homeless can grab items, but it's not cultural, everyday practice. Our first impulse is to just throw out what we don't want, which is why a third of food goes to tragic waste.

Due to Covid-19, the food supply chain had to redirect its resources. Restaurants weren't in demand since supermarket hoarding became the norm. This resulted in a bottleneck as farmers and suppliers were still producing ingredients, so the chain was backed up. Food banks swiftly came to the rescue, proving a primary release of these never ending ingredients. But many homeless didn't receive the benefit of these food banks as they tend to rely on foot traffic donations. So now we're talking about food waste plus the lack of food going to the poverty stricken. 

Which is why Pappadavada comes into play. This restaurant in Kochi, India decided enough was enough, so the owner simply placed a fridge outside her restaurant and stocked it with surplus kitchen prep food. The homeless came out in droves, took what they needed and went on their way. Soon after, nearby restaurants and locals started to place their own food surplus in the Pappadavada fridge since the door's open 24/7.

The result: Dozens of homeless people are fed daily and even though there aren't statistics on how much this campaign has lowered food wastage, it's obviously heading in the right direction towards rectifying the problem. Other cities have adopted this street fridge ethic including The People's Fridge, London yet this innovation still hasn't become a movement or sidewalk staple. Why hasn't it? It's so simple...

Imagine if every city operated this way in reducing food waste while feeding the needy. Neighborhoods would be accountable for stocking them up and we can easily reduce waste quickly when we know a fridge is ready to be fed, and emptied. Major tourist attractions with gluttonous food streams could easily set the wheels in motion i.e. New York's Times Square, Santa Monica Pier, Miami's South Beach, Las Vegas's all-you-can-eat-buffet, London's Piccadilly Circus etc.

With so many dining establishments sadly going out of business, please check if they'd donate their fridge to the neighborhood. All you need is an outdoor socket and a sign on the door 'Neighbors & businesses, feed me 24/7 so I can feed the hungry.' Or please let us know and we'll start the ball rolling. Street fridges are for everyone - to give and receive. Let us start giving, so the needy can always receive day or night.