A SCHEME allowing people to leave unwanted food in a fridge in a Halstead car park for those in need is being looked into by the town council.

The basic principle of a Community Fridge is to prevent the waste of perishable food which would otherwise be thrown away by supermarkets, restaurants and members of the public, and to store it in a clean, hygienic environment.

Councillor Sandra Dingle raised the idea of developing a Community Fridge for Halstead, and it was discussed at Monday night’s full town council meeting.

After the meeting, she said: “I was watching Jamie & Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast with Jamie Oliver and they were talking about this fridge they had installed in Southend.

“Jamie had actually got a hold of Sainsbury’s and they allowed him to put the fridge in their car park, so why couldn’t we do that here? I just thought it would be a really good thing to have, we have quite a few people here in Halstead who are living on the breadline, so why can’t we help them out?

“The Halstead foodbank has a lot of success so we could build on top of that.

“Sarah and I are organising to meet with Sainsbury’s, so hopefully we can get the ball rolling.”

Town clerk Sarah Greatorex has written to the supermarket expressing an interest in opening the scheme in their car park.

Before the scheme can begin, councillors questioned how the fridge would be monitored, whether staff were needed and whether restrictions on using it were required.

Mrs Dingle and Mrs Greatorex are to explore the feasibility of setting up a Community Fridge in Halstead, and will report back to the full council at next month’s meeting.

Similar schemes have been kick-started across the country with Southend and Brixton both having successful starts. The average household throws away £470 worth of food every year.