The SAXCF is a local Community Fridge project set up in March 2021 in response to the issue of food waste. There are now over 200 similar Community Fridge projects in the UK. Originally founded with help from IP17GNS, our activities are now supported by St John's PCC charity.

Statistics on food waste are truly mind-blowing e.g.4.4 million potatoes, 800,00 apples and 25 milion slices of bread are binned in the UK daily . This is of course a crazy situation especially given the current economic and cost-of-living crisis.

We are a team of volunteers who collect surplus good food from local supermarkets, bakeries, greengrocers and even a farm shop. The items donated are bread products (often artisan bread), sometimes some vegetables and even cakes, so the table looks extremely attractive and is (usually!) heathy. These donations are items which are near or past their 'best before date' and which would otherwise have been thrown away. (Note that it is illegal for us to offer items past their use by date.)

We have regular distribution sessions held in Saxmundham behind The Old Bank building - access via the alleyway between The Old Bank and the Jennie Jones estate agents, who have graciously made their car park available to us and for which we are extremely grateful. We are often offered random boxes of items from other food businesses, so each session by its nature is unpredictable. In addition to these items we are also a space for all to SHARE surplus allotment produce and unopened food items (however, there are a few restrictions as to what we can take). Free plants and seeds frequently also make an appearance.

Over the months we have realised that we are more than 'just' a food redistribution space. Because we operate in a car park it is very easy for people to pop in and out quickly whilst going about their daily business. We offer free coffee and we actively encourage folk to stay for a while and chat. We want to engender a true community spirit around our space.

​