Awesome Waste

With over 1.4 billion people, China generates a lot of waste. In 2017, it created a new problem. After shared bicycle programs cluttered streets with more than 25 million bikes, the government enforced fleet size limits, and countless bikes ended up in massive graveyards. Guoyong Wu’s short film uses aerial photography to show just how big the problem got.

Do you immediately toss out food the second it hits its expiration date? TED-Ed is here to explain how you’re probably wasting food if you do that. It turns out that the dates stamped on food are often quite arbitrary. In most cases, your best bet is to use your senses of touch, sight, and smell to suss out when food is no longer suitable to eat.