In the U.S., 30 to 40 percent of food is wasted. California aims to change that

Allison Aubrey:

That's right.

And when these numbers were first documented several years ago, the reaction was, how could this be? This is insane, right? Now, two years later, there are all kinds of solutions being tried all over the country.

For instance, we visited farmers in Massachusetts. They are taking food waste, streams of food that can't be eaten, and turning it into electricity, into renewable energy.

Now, we start the series in California. That's because the state is really leading the way. I traveled with producer Mary Beth Durkin around the state.

And here's what we found.

When we first came to Salinas Valley four years ago, we saw walls of leafy greens being tossed away. And it's still happening. On peak days, up to 200 tons of produce is headed to this dump.

It's all surplus from nearby farms and packaging facilities. One reason these greens end up here is because they weren't shipped in time to give grocers enough shelf time to sell them.

But it was these plastic bags that really frustrated Cesar Zuniga. He's the facility's waste manager.

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