Households battling inflation and other monetary stressors can breathe a little easier as 24-hour community food initiatives crop up throughout the country.

In Saitama Prefecture’s Soka city, the aptly named Community Fridge Soka can be found in a corner of a supermarket with a refrigerator, freezer and shelf of available items.

These mutual aid setups stocked with donated foodstuffs and daily essentials are also expected to help reduce food waste.

Vegetables, salad dressing and other products were spotted in the 15-square-meter space in early December with messages from patrons on an adjacent wall. Among them were sentiments of wanting to “express gratitude” and that they “find it really helpful.”

“Our aim is to supply edible goods and to reduce food waste at the same time,” said Masaki Ueda, 44, an official from the Soka Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Young Entrepreneurs Group, which is in charge of the project.

Ueda himself previously faced the challenge of dealing with a significant amount of food waste when he ran a supermarket.

An estimate of the agriculture ministry, along with other sources, reveals that the nationwide food waste amounted to 4.72 million tons, or 38 kilograms per capita, in fiscal 2022.

This figure is comparable to the 4.8 million tons of food aid offered by the U.N. World Food Program.

After Ueda learned of a community fridge in Okayama city in the Chugoku region, he embarked on his own endeavor in June 2022.

Foodstuffs for distribution come from companies and residents. Some 30 corporations are extending support for the project, and it is predicted that 50,000 edible products weighing in at 18 tons will be donated in fiscal 2024 that ends in March 2025.

Those who wish to use the service must register, with eligibility extending to those receiving the child care allowance and school expense subsidies.

The entrance’s key code is shared through a smartphone app to allow registered members to unlock the door to access the corner space.

Users can also use the app to check what is in stock, input the items they want and then take home their chosen goods.

About 650 households are currently on the registered members list. Ueda observes that more patrons “seem happy to receive free food as it becomes increasingly difficult to afford meals amid rising commodity prices.”

SURVEY SAYS

Community fridges are said to have originated in Germany in 2012. They then popped up in Spain, Britain and the United States.

In Japan, Kitanagase Area Management introduced its own community fridge within a commercial complex in Okayama’s Kita Ward in November 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our program began with an eye toward beefing up mutual assistance and community ties,” recalled Takara Shintaku, 36, a representative director of Kitanagase Area Management. The organization works to improve townscapes in redeveloped areas of the city.

Kitanagase Area Management in July 2020 asked 1,513 individuals from local households in need about what types of support would make the town easier to live in.

A majority of respondents answered, “a life aid program where food and daily essentials are provided.”

Based on the results, the organization decided to address this need with a community fridge. A total of 533 households had registered with the service as of December 2024, with approximately 70 families using it each day.

HEALTHIER OPTIONS

Kitanagase Area Management particularly emphasizes providing a variety of options, given that different households require different things.

Setting up a fridge instead of a simple shelf means offering yogurt and other healthy perishables is an option.

This is significant as impoverished families often grapple with food insecurity, meaning a greater likelihood of diets skewing toward unhealthy simple carbohydrates than vegetables.

“I would like users to put a larger variety of food into their bodies,” said Shintaku.

Having the corner be self-service also means those who wish to remain anonymous can pick up items at any time of day or night.

Since establishing its community fridge, Kitanagase Area Management has shared the expertise it has gained in food management with organizers spanning Hokkaido to Kagoshima Prefecture in the south.

Inspired by the Okayama initiative, community fridges are now operating in 20 locations nationwide.

In a separate effort, the Community Fridge Frigo came about in Yokohama's Tsurumi Ward in June 2020. The refrigerator was installed by real estate agency Kisoya in front of the corporation’s office building.

The donation program was proposed by Kisoya official Misato Nakanishi, 57, after she learned of a community fridge in Britain a few years earlier.

Under the Community Fridge Frigo, donors should list their donated items in a notebook before putting them in the refrigerator. Recipients are also asked to record what they take in the notebook.

An individual who donated jellies they originally received as a traditional summer gift told the initiative they “felt a sense of warmth watching the jellies disappear one by one.”

Nakanishi cleans the inside of the fridge daily. As its stock depletes quickly, so far nothing has been thrown away.

“This system is free and gentle,” Nakanishi said. “It would be my pleasure to help hand down a sustainable Earth to children by reducing food waste.”

(This article was written by Yuri Yamamoto and Senior Staff Writer Tomoko Yamashita.)