A SECOND free fridge is to set to open in Ryedale.

Following the success of the Malton Free Fridge, a new committee has been set up to open another one in Norton.

The Norton Free Fridge committee is aiming to open its doors in early next mont in the run up to the festive season.

Barbara Machin, co-ordinator, said: “The Malton Free Fridge has been a huge success and has so far saved 10 tonnes of food from going to waste and fed 8,000 people in around 11 months.

“We now want to increase still further how much food we can save and let people take away and use, so are opening a new fridge in Norton.”

Barbara added: “We already have several local businesses signed up to give us their surplus food and are in the process of training our volunteers in food safety, but we need more local people to volunteer to run the fridge.

“We hope to open on Tuesday and Friday, but need volunteers to be available to run the scheme.”

Norton Free Fridge, which will be based in Winston Court, has also received a grant from Norton Town Council towards purchasing a fridge and setting up the new base, plus support from Yorkshire Housing in providing a room to run the new service.

The Free Fridge project was started with the principal aim of reducing food waste.

Surplus food from local businesses is collected by volunteers and then made available to anyone free or a small donation.

The aim is to stop good food ending up in the bin.

Any items not taken away for fresh use can be frozen and made available to visitors at a later date.

Anyone who wants to volunteer at the Norton Free Fridge should email Barbara on nortonfreefridge@gmail.com