About 40-percent of all the food produced in America gets thrown away and one man is on a mission to turn this around. Angie Crouch reports for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 12, 2015.
A man surviving solely on food culled from dumpsters as he walks barefoot across America has stopped off in Los Angeles.
Activist Rob Greenfield was shocked at what he found grocery stores in the city are throwing away daily during his visit Friday.
And in a nod to the drought that is gripping Califonria, the 28-year-old is also using recycled rainwater as part of his water supply.
"Our message to the grocery stores is that we want them to stop dumping their excess food and start donating it to non-profits so it can be distributed to people in need," Greenfield said.
"It's not lazy people, it's moms, kids, elders who are at home hungry without a meal while we've got all this food going to landfills... that just tears me up inside," he added.
He managed to find several hundred dollars' worth of organic produce in a dumpster behind a West Hollywood grocery store alone. He will displaying the food found across LA in Hollywood Saturday, and will donate good food to the hungry.
While 50 million people go hungry, about 40 percent of food produced in America gets thrown away.
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Wisconsin-born Greenfield, who lives in San Diego, has been on two previous nation-wide trips exposing the realities of food waste.
On his second tour, he stopped in eight cities where he dumpster dove for a night, and showed his findings with a public demonstration the next morning.
Pictures posted of the demonstrations in each city speak to the wastefulness Greenfield is working to change.
The activist also went a year without showering in 2013 to raise awareness about water usage. Instead of taking a shower, he often bathed in natural water sources including a lake and a waterfall.
