I’m still a bit nervous about taking that first dumpster dive, so I can’t imagine making the practice my sole source of nutrition. But that’s just one of the ways that Rob Greenfield is trying to show other Americans just how wasteful we can be with our food. Rob’s been biking across the country on a bamboo bike, and dumpster diving for everything he eats. Think that sounds like a recipe for illness? Well, take a look at some of the food he found in dumpsters in his native Wisconsin (where he just had a “layover” of sorts on his travels). Last night, he held a similar event in Chicago (and I’ll add content on that as soon as its available). I’d certainly dig into that…
So, what’s this guy’s deal? Spend a few minutes with this television interview from The Morning Blend on NBC 4 in Milwaukee…
Intriguing, huh? But Rob’s choices probably won’t work for all of us: I know I’m in no position to drop everything else and go biking across the country. That doesn’t mean you can’t join in his efforts, though. He’s started two social media campaigns, #WastefulUSA and #WastefulWI, to recruit “citizen patrols” who will find examples of grocery stores throwing away food like this, document them (because we’ve all got phones with cameras now), and share them through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other hashtag-enabled social media channels. No doubt there’s a dumpster near you brimming over with food that could be donated to a food pantry, or even used to feed people at an activism event.
I’ve been following Rob’s travels on and off for a couple of months, and am really inspired by the way he’s chosen to live. If you’ve got your own stories to share about “rescuing” food, we’ve got a comments section below: tell us about your own experiences.
UPDATE (8/21/14): Rob saw yesterday’s post, and was kind enough to reach out with a picture from last Tuesday night’s event in Chicago’s Lincoln Park. Here’s part of the “huge display of perfectly good food found in dumpsters” that he was able to gather (no doubt with some help from the folks pictured):
Featured image credit: Screen capture from “Dumpster Diving Across America”