Paper short abstract:

In the mid 1900s having a home freezer was still a luxury whereas collective freezer lockers offered an affordable alternative. This paper explores everyday practices connected to these locker facilities. What can past collective cooling practices tell about future (sustainable) cooling practices?

Paper long abstract:

Would you share your refrigerator or freezer with your neighbours?

When the freezer still was a novelty and affordable for a few, collective freezer locker facilities offered an alternative especially for producer households on the countryside. The lockers could be rented out by, for example, dairies and housing companies, or managed through an economic association with memberships. In Sweden, the first was established in 1947. The facilities had their heydays in the 1950s whereafter they went in decline with a few surviving into the 21st century. Today most Swedish households have access to their own freezer in their the home, the freezer has become a self-evident kitchen feature integrated into our food culture.

Recently, geographers have suggested encouraging collective cooling practices, e.g. for air-conditioning and food storage, as means for reducing environmental impact (Phillips and Waitt 2018; Farbotko and Waitt 2011). Could the collective locker facilities of the mid-1900s offer perspectives on contemporary ideas of collective cooling practices?

This paper will, departing from a bricolage approach to Swedish freezer locker facilities, explore the everyday practices connected to the collective freezer lockers. How were collective freezer practices organized and why did they seize to be meaningful in everyday life? How could past collective practices contribute with perspectives on present or future cooling practices?