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European man surviving by eating garbage during bike journey from Paris to Warsaw

During the 3,000 mile trip, Baptiste Dubanchet has already made this way through pats of Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic.

By Evan Bleier
An overflowing garbage bin on the street (CC/Alexander Marks)
An overflowing garbage bin on the street (CC/Alexander Marks)

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PARIS, June 23 (UPI) -- A Frenchman on a bike trip from Paris to Warsaw has been surviving off food that he salvages from garbage bins in order to point out how much edible food Europeans throw away.

During the 3,000 mile trip, Baptiste Dubanchet has already made this way through pats of Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic.

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"I really didn't think we were wasting as much as we are," he told the Local. "Even when you know about it, it's still surprising to open a garbage can and find so many potatoes, so much fruit, yogurt, sometimes 500-litre or 1000-litre bins are filled with things that are still good enough to eat."

Dubanchet reports that he had more success "dumpster-diving" for dinner in Germany and France than he did in the Czech Republic. In addition to foraging for his own good, the 25-year-old sometimes also asks for grub that supermarkets, bakeries and restaurants are planning to throw away.

"The Czech Republic was the hardest, people just didn't understand the concept," Dubanchet said. "They associate taking trash with homeless people. Finally, I was given a lot of leftover bread from a bakery which I made last for five days."

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According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption goes to waste.

"The project has been a way for me to protest," Dubanchet said. "If we produced less, food would become more precious to us."

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