Slopeside Village, an apartment building at the base of Canyons Village at Park City Mountain, first joined the Zero Food Waste movement in December when they rolled out food waste collection to all their residents. They were the first high-density, multi-family unit to scale food waste collection in the program, and now they are debuting another first in our area: a free community fridge.
In partnership with Elevation Lodges, which manages vacation rentals across Park City, and Waste Less Solutions, an organization dedicated to food waste diversion through “food rescues”, the community fridge offers safe, surplus food to Slopeside Village residents that would otherwise end up in the landfill. Elevation Lodges will regularly stock the fridge with unused food items from their rentals, which Slopeside Village residents can take freely.
The idea for a community fridge came from a collaborative discussion during the Business Solutions Group, which was formed by Park City Community Foundation’s Zero Food Waste initiative. The group is a collection of local business leaders that regularly share ideas to help scale food waste solutions to our business community and beyond.
“The community fridge is a perfect example of collaboration and creative thinking we’re looking to inspire as we work towards the Zero Food Waste goal.” said Andy Hecht, Climate Fund Manager at Park City Community Foundation.
Waste Less Solutions has been working to reduce food waste and feed people in Utah since 2018 and recently expanded into Summit County. The organization has been pivotal in getting the community fridge launched by providing guidance. Summit County businesses can now sign up to partner with Waste Less Solutions to donate their surplus food to those in need. Wasteless Solutions provides services to pick up donated food from business partners and deliver it to partner organizations.
