19 Things in the Netherlands That Fix Everyday Problems

The rest of the world treats small daily annoyances as just part of life. The Netherlands treats them as engineering problems to solve. From trash cans buried beneath the street and tax returns that fill themselves out, to bus shelters that double as bee habitat and air-bubble barriers that pull plastic out of the canals, this is a countdown of 17 quietly brilliant Dutch solutions to problems most of us stopped noticing. In this video you'll see how a single tap pays for any train, tram, or ferry in the country, why Dutch drivers open car doors with the "wrong" hand to protect cyclists, how green bridges let deer and badgers cross the motorway, and the tiny kitchen tool that makes sure you never waste the last of the jar. Each one started as an ordinary frustration, and each one has a clever, well-made fix. Counting down to number 19 — the app that ended the awkward ritual of splitting the bill for good.