Peerby allows people to share their stuff through a mobile app for free. Peerby hide caption
sharing economy sharing economy
The New York City skyline. Thomas Hawk/Flickr hide caption
Europeans throw away 90 million tons of food each year, including these vegetables pulled from waste bins of an organic supermarket in Berlin. A new German website aims to connect surplus food with people who want it. Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters /Landov hide caption
In one episode of Portlandia, Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen started a grass-roots campaign to prevent the Olympics from ever coming to Portland. IFC hide caption
A man picks up a rental car in in Burlingame, Calif., near San Francisco International Airport this summer. The car was left with the FlightCar company by a traveler who then flew out of the airport. Eric Risberg/AP hide caption
Renting out your couches — or your entire place — is powered by San Francisco–based Airbnb, which has now connected more than half a million willing hosts and travelers in more than 34,000 cities. iStockphoto.com hide caption
Citi Bike is the bike sharing program that launched this May in New York City. Bike sharing is part of the sharing economy. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption