• Indoor space or public street?

    First you need to decide where you are going to set up the fridge, indoors in a private space or outdoors in a public space.

    1. Indoor Private Space: In this case you don’t need any public authority permits, just permission from the owner of the place. Regarding the legal and the health and safety guidelines you need a responsibility waiver, the Standard Operation Procedures and fulfilling any locally existing health and safety requirements. We can provide you the ones we used in Spain. With that you can get started. Below, we’ll explain to you the materials and items that you may need.
    1.  Public space: Before getting into the building phase, we recommend that you present the project in collaboration with some existing association in your area. If it happens to be a food-bank, or some kind of related field it’ll be particularly interesting. Primarily because the project will allow them to fulfill their mission of distributing food, but additionally because if they have access to a food storage space and goods, they could contribute any products that are close to the best by date, which are perfectly safe all the way into their expiration date.

  • Public Space usage permit:

    Once you have contacted an organization willing to collaborate and secured an appropriate spot in a public space, allowing for any municipal cleaning activities, safe passage of people, wheelchairs, strollers… away from garbage dumpsters, potential sources of contamination, protected from weather… long story short, in a fairly secure place not being a nuisance to anybody, you can apply for a Public Space Usage permit.
    You apply for this permit in the Town Hall and it usually takes some time. It is not overly complicated. It is pretty much the same permit to install a vending machine for refrigerated drinks. Anyway, if you think they are going to give you a hard time since it is an unusual project, we can provide you with a project plan that you can attach to your application. In this way, the person processing your permit will be able to understand it from the get go and you won’t waste any extra time having to explain it over and over again.
    Of course, instead of just a particular association, you could collaborate with your municipal social services department which will already give you a leg up into the system. However, please stay away from any particular political association. We don’t want the initiative to get politicized.

  • The spot:

    Once you have secured your permit, you can build up the spot for your fridge. Do not start installing anything in a public space before receiving a permit. Most likely the fridge will be soon gone along with your chances of properly installing one in the future. We can’t support you if you didn’t get a permit first. If freelance fridges with no permits start populating the streets they will start being removed and protested, giving the impression that the whole project is a failure, which is not true.

    To build the spot you need several things:

    1. A fence: You can use a standard garden fence from any home improvement retailer. The size varies depending on the size of the fridge. You may have to do a little woodworking to make it look nice.
    2. The base: A used standard pallet is the best way to keep the fridge from the cold and humidity of the ground
    3. Fake grass:Get a patch of the cheapest you can find. It is only for decorative purposes. Make it a little bigger than the base, so it shows between the base and the fence too.
    4. Hardware:The fence needs a gate to access the fridge. You’ll need a couple of hinges, a handle and a little locking system, maybe just a couple of magnets, to keep the fence locked in place.

    The fence doesn’t really protect against vandalism. The main purpose is to show that it is not just a discarded fridge, ensure that children can’t open it (the locking mechanism should be on the inside), and try to insulate it from the ground while making it look cute.

    Once you build all this you’ll only need to plug it in to power in order to finish the installation.

  • The electrical hook up:

    If you are going to install the fridge outdoors, you will have to make sure the installation is up to local codes. A licensed electrician may be the best way to guarantee a proper job. We can provide you a diagram with a list of materials to do it according to Spanish code (If you can get them for any other country, please contact us and we’ll add them to the network library). Safety is first and most important. The installation needs to be safe enough to withstand the elements, and even some people who may inadvertently manipulate it. You never know when a kid may play with it.

  • Safety:

    Although we like to believe that the world is full of good respectful people, you know your environment better than anyone. You may want to consider using a chain or some bolts to lock it in place. Definitely you need to make sure that it won’t accidentally tip over.