I respect what he did but I certainly won't do so. He said 'money is illusion' - okay it's true, but I guess you can stop yourself from being illuded by money? Money can be put into good uses. For me, he's just escaping from the society, or he feels that the today's society just doesn't fit him. But I think one should understand that the world is both filled with good and bad, and can't be perfect. If he's happy with this way, I don't see why not. The good thing is that he doesn't need to bear the stress from the society, just be himself; the cost is he eats trash, leftovers - what he thinks he's sort of embracing the nature. I don't think he should stay in the community where he is now. He should probably back to a society which has 'primitive' life of hunting and stuff. I don't mean this in a bad way, it's just another form of lifestyle which never happens in the States.
In terms of economic benefit, he's definitely good because he helps clear the waste in the society, though he isn't contributing anything but to be honest, it doesn't matter because he's not taking anything that would have good alternative uses for the society. He uses the road and library - don't a problem because they are public goods and gonna be provided anyway, even without him.
He is right about materialism and greed. But he certainly misses the point that money has helped a lot of people, it's just that it has been misused. No matter what, he's just escaping and it's fine because so far, no one knows how to solve this problem and might never can be solved because the desire of human being wanting more always exist, regardless of our consciousness, leading to many problems like inequality.
However, I still think he's not doing any good to this world because he's not helping others with his effort. It is the good of this world that make our lives worth existing. He might enjoy the indulgence of this kind of life, but I think it is extremely humilating that when his lifestyle is described as 'Christ-like' and said he's connected to the principles of the many great religions. In fact, many of the religion emphasizes the need for self-sacrifical love for people, and he's apparently missing this point. He should overcome the hardship and make an effort to help people like what Jesus Christ or Mother Teresa did.
Seriously, I wish him luck and not to be a man who grew old and regretted that he didn't do anything for this world. Well, maybe his intetion is good, but in a wrong, very wrong way!