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Community Fridge

The Community Fridge project launched in 2017 at the student residences, in collaboration with the Students’ Union, following a successful grant application from the Sainsbury’s Waste Less, Save More scheme to help combat food waste. 

University of ºù«Ӱҵ partners with Tesco stores and other local suppliers to help prevent food waste and ensure people don’t go without. Food that has reached its sell-by date but is still safe to consume would normally be thrown away, but the Community Fridges allow it to be rescued and offered completely free to staff, students and the community through the project. 

Through growth and developing new partnerships, the two Fridges receive more donations than ever, meaning more food is being diverted from waste streams and more people benefit from the resource.

University of ºù«Ӱҵ receives food every evening as part of the Community Food Connection surplus food scheme, which involves local suppliers and food surplus redistribution charity FareShare. The Community Food Connection scheme ensures that surplus food from Tesco is given to charities and community groups, whose volunteer members then distribute it to the public. Across the UK it redistributes 2 million meals each month.

*figures are based on averages, collections vary each day.

Free Shop

The Free Shop is held every year during Intro Weekend in September and in February for Semester 2 arrivals, and forms part of our Donate, Don’t Waste initiative. Previous residents can donate some of their unwanted kitchen and homeware items at the end of their tenancy, which are then cleaned and stored ready to be given away at the Free Shop.

Donate, Don’t Waste

Donate, Don't Waste is a scheme run by the University of ºù«Ӱҵ, ºù«Ӱҵ Hallam University, ºù«Ӱҵ City Council, and charity partners to help make it as easy as possible for students to donate reusable items and dispose of waste responsibly.

As students prepare to move out of University accommodation, they are encouraged to donate any items that they don’t want to take with them. British Heart Foundation donation points are located across the residences for items such as shoes, clothes, bric-a-brac, etc. Kitchen and homeware items, including pots, pans, and crockery, are collected to be given away at the Free Shop for new student arrivals in September and February. 

Hard to Recycle Hub

The Hard to Recycle Hub was introduced to Endcliffe in 2023 to provide options to donate items that can’t go into normal recycling streams. The scheme collects items for:

Green Impact

Green Impact is a national programme to encourage sustainable initiatives within the work place, the Accommodation and Commercial Services team has taken part for many years, with a focus on introducing and promoting environmental schemes within the student residences.