Latest News from the Community Fridge
Last Updated: 28.9.25
Recurrent Items:
22.7.25: Revised access procedure for Fridge Users: A revised scheme is now in force - please see the Homepage for details.
1.7.25: For a wide range of info. on all aspects of recycling, head over to our recycling page for some useful hints and tips.
1.5.25: For anyone interested in statistics, we've just updated our Donors page with the donation figures for the last financial year (24-25). We've also enlarged our visitor numbers table and bar chart, which now includes quarterly figures from March 2023 onwards. Take a look - you'll see we're still getting plenty of visitors...and have plenty to redistribute, thanks to our generous donors....and the efforts of our volunteers !
3.4.25: Update on UK.Gov new recycling initiative: There's likely to be a major change country-wide in our bin collection arrangements before the end of this year. To find out more, visit our recycling page....
15.3.25: We're pleased to offer aspiring cooks a selection of recipes from our recent cookery courses. We've provided this as a downloadable booklet to read on your devices or print out. They'll help you provide your family with easy to prepare nutritious meals without a lot of hassle. Head over to the cookery archive page for more info. including a roundup of our latest 'Cookie in a Jar' course.
19.1.25: For anyone in Leicestershire not sure of where and how to recycle any used items they might want to get rid of, LessWaste have recently provided a directory of the county's principal recycling organisations with a map of their locations. See our Recycling page for details and a link.
4.1.25: Struggling to keep track of your waste and recycling bin collection days ? Try our new "When is Bins ?" collection day generator within the e-Diary and get your 'bin' days mapped out for the whole of 2025 and 2026 on a handy wall-planner sheet. It will even accomodate the new food waste collections, due to start by March 2026. Head over to our Recycling page to find out how...
More Recent Entries:
4.10.25: New 'Fridges' page with details of alternative CF venues within ca 20 miles of Loughborough.
17.8.25: Late Summer Bank Holiday Opening: The Fridge will be closed on Monday 25th August - normal opening resumes Tuesday 26th.
17.7.25: Please note further changes in access conditions for the fridge until further notice on the homepage. We recommend fridge users delay their arrival times until after 1030 to avoid waiting if the weather is poor, since there is no shelter in the gate area.
27.5.25: Please note that, for the time being, access to the centre for Fridge Users will only be only permitted after 1015. This is to avoid overcrowding in the centre foyer, and to allow volunteers adequate time to process donations - see Home Page for more details.
17.5.25: Call for Volunteer Drivers to Support our Fridge: We need more drivers to collect donations in the Loughborough area. If you have a car, and can spare a few hours per week, please see our Volunteering page for more details.
22.4.25: The 'Bank Holiday season' is well and truly with us now after the late Easter this year...as usual, the Fridge will be closed on the two Bank Holiday Mondays (5th and 26th May). Normal opening times on all other weekdays.
10.4.25: Easter is nearly upon us again. The Fridge will be closed this year on Good Friday (18th April) and Easter Monday (21st April). We reopen on Tues 22nd with our normal opening times (1030-1130 on weekdays). Happy Easter to all....
7.1.25: Site access during term time - during school term-time you're likely to find both gates at the site entrance closed. To save yourself a long, and at this time of year cold wait, check out the instructions on the homepage about how to get in.....
2.1.25: Opening times are now back to normal as of today. Happy New Year !
24.12.24: I'm sure I can speak for the many who have made use of the fridge this year in thanking our volunteers for their splendid efforts keeping things going throughout some very lean times....and a special vote of thanks to Therese for organising it all.
Well done and keep up the good work in 2025. Happy New Year !
4.12.24: Christmas and New Year opening times: Please see box above for dates. We're closed on days marked red. Normal weekday service resumes on January 2nd.
2.11.24: Latest donation statistics for Q1-2 FY 2024-5 now available on the Donors page. We've also included a new table & plot, showing that visitor numbers have remained high despite the fall in the food inflation rate.
21.8.24: Late Summer Bank Holiday opening times: The Fridge will be closed on Monday 26th August. We re-open on the Tuesday at 1030 as usual.
1.8.24: New bi-monthly recycling article just posted: this month's topic is: Reducing Food Waste and contains some useful hints on managing your freezer. Hope it's useful...
2.6.24: New bi-monthly recycling article just posted: this month's topic is clothes and textile recycling. Enjoy...
22.5.24: By popular request, some new advice is now available on growing your own vegetables. This is aimed at anyone who has a small area of garden they'd like to use to 'grow their own', but needs some advice on how to start.
29.4.24: Holiday opening times: The Fridge will be closed on Monday 6th May and Monday 27th May, which are both UK bank holidays this year. We re-open on the Tuesday in both cases.
20.4.24: If you're interested in where our food comes from, and how much of it we recycle, head over to our Donors page for the latest stats....you'll also find more details on the role of each of our donors in the community, both here in Charnwood and country-wide.
1.4.24: For anyone interested in what actually happens to their Green Bin Recycling waste, visit our recycling page to find out......Happy Easter to all.
25.3.24: Easter Opening times: This year we will be closed on Good Friday (29.3.24) and Easter Monday (1.4.24). Normal service resumes on Tuesday 2.4.24.
13.3.24: Please note that owing to reduced donations over the past few weeks, we have decided to reduce our opening hours to 1 hour each weekday. The new opening hours are 1030-1130. We hope to extend this by an extra hour when donations pick up.
24.1.24: Therese has just contributed a new document to our site describing the Fridge's aims and objectives, as well as giving us an interesting insight into its early development (Charnwood Community Fridge - The Story.pdf). You'll find it on our Downloads page where you can read and/or download it.
24.1.24: We are looking for a volunteer to assist with the Fridge during opening times on Wednesdays each week (10-12pm). Can you help ? If so, please see our Volunteering page for details of our volunteering programme and how to apply.
9.1.24: Normal Opening Times until further notice. (See also the list of forthcoming UK Bank Holidays and notable dates at the bottom of this page for an indication of future variations. We will post details of Easter opening times in March).
14.12.23: Our Community Fridge is dedicated to recycling…and not just of food. We’re proud to report that we now have a new composting project running here at the Shelthorpe Family Hub. Matthew Copley, senior waste technician at LCC, has installed a brand new composting bin for us in the Hub’s garden. Our new bin is already filling up nicely with compostable material and is expected to yield its first ‘harvest’ next summer.
To celebrate this, we're introducing a new series of articles on recycling, where we consider a related topic in a bit more depth, and explain how you may be able to contribute yourself. This month we’re taking a look at composting.
See our new Recycling page for more details.