Food waste in the world is a dramatic reality that sees billions of tons of food ending up in the trash. According to the analysis carried out by the FAO, food waste in the world amounts to more than 1.3 billion tons per year, equal to about one-third of total production. In short, out of the 3.9 billion tons of food produced in the world, 1.3 ends up in the garbage. Due to a lack of data, the results on Icelandic firms' food waste are relatively limited. As a result, information on waste in agriculture, fishing, fish processing, oil and fat production, dairy product manufacturing, and beverage fabrication is scarce. According to the latest data published by the Environment Agency of Iceland in 2019, yearly food waste totals 40,845.5 tonnes or 112.6 kg per person each year.

Kamila and Marco arrived in Iceland a couple of years ago and found in Icelandic culture a profound sense of community. This inspired them to become more and more involved in the preservation of the environment. One of the little steps we can take to do that is limiting food waste. After getting acquainted with the dumpster-diving philosophy, by saving food from the bins and sharing it with friends, Kamila was simply shaken by the quantity of good food thrown away. The idea of setting up a community fridge came up in the Westfjords, during Hacking Hekla, a start-up-oriented event.

Freedge is already a movement around the world, so it is not a brand-new concept, but it is a first-timer for Iceland. When thinking about a location for the fridge, Andrými seemed like a good choice as they were already organizing dumpster-diving dinners and other events to tackle the food waste phenomenon. In addition, this is the world’s northernmost freedge on the map.

After a few months, Kamila and Marco found a second-hand fridge on bland.is and started building a shelter for it (from 100% recycled materials of course!). Their goal is to spread awareness about food waste in Iceland and, at the same time, give a temporary home to a small part of the food that would otherwise go to the trash. Everyone can contribute with food donations to the freedge. The food will be accessible to whoever needs it and happens to swing by Andrými, for free. Andrými is located on Bergþórugata 20.

Absolutely anyone can take the available food, which is labelled and organized to avoid cross-contamination. Students are, of course, welcome to pay a visit to the “Bee-freedge”, named for its colours: black and yellow. Kamila hopes that the initiative will also serve as an inspiration to other towns in Iceland. Currently, there is a Facebook group dedicated to the Reykjavík Freedge community where you can find information about the food availability of the day and the donation modalities.

Sharing is Caring: The Northernmost “Freedge” pops up in Reykjavík