If you are in Shanghai and want to throw away a cup of milk tea, be careful. You need to follow these steps: first, pour out any leftover into a wet waste bin; second, put the paper wrapper into a recyclable waste bin; third, throw the single-use cup and straw (吸管)into a dry waste bin.

Sound complex (复杂的)? You'll have to get used to it. From July 1 on, people in Shanghai are required to sort (将分类)their garbage according to strict rules. Many other cities in China are planning to create similar garbage-sorting rules.

Why should we sort our garbage? The answer lies in the increasing amount of waste we are producing. Chinese cities produce over 200 million tons of waste each year, according to China Economic Net. Most of this waste is buried (填埋)in landfills (垃圾填埋场) , which may pollute water and soil. Moreover, we are running out of space for new landfills.

In fact, more than half of our waste can be recycled. Recyclable garbage can be made into new materials, while wet garbage can be used to make gas, heat and fertilizer. But in order to recycle efficiently, we need to sort our garbage.

Can't garbage-processing companies do the sorting job for us? They can. But that requires a lot of work and costs lots of money. Things will become much easier if each of us can sort our own garbage. Besides, the troublesome task of sorting might encourage people to produce less waste. Do you still want to buy that milk tea?

About 30 years ago, China was known as the “Bicycle Kingdom”. Soon cars became popular, and the bike popularity began to fade (衰退). However, in the past 2 years, many bikes have been seen on the street in many big cities across China. More and more people choose cycling instead of driving to schools, to workplace or to do sightseeing. Some new companies like Ofo and Mobike has begun to start the new business of the bike-sharing.

It is very convenient to use these shared bikes. People can unlock them by simply using their smartphones. There is GPS in each bike so that it can be left anywhere in public for the next user. They’re popular among many Chinese people because they solve the “last mile” problem. “It’s difficult to get to some places where there isn’t any subway. However, it’s easy to get where you want to go with Mobike.” Xiao Yu said. She often rides the bike to her workplace after she goes out of the subway station.

However, there are also some problems. In last December, a man who stole a shared bike was sentenced to a 3-month stay in the prison(监狱) and fined 1000 yuan by Shanghai People’s Court.

There are similar problems abroad. In Paris, the public shared bikes also had the problems of being broken or stolen at the beginning. Bikes were found hanging from streetlights or thrown into the Seine River. To deal with these problems, the company encouraged people to return the bikes to stations by giving more free time for their next rides.

Now, Chinese companies are also trying to solve the problems. For example, Mobike sets a 100-point credit score (信用分数) for each user. Once a score drops below 80, the bike user has to pay 100 yuan every 30 minutes instead of 1 yuan.

Bike-sharing is a greener method of transportation and provides the users with friendly experience. If all the users can follow the rules while using it, the life will be more convenient.