What connects the three everyday items in the above image?
It’s very easy – there’s no trick answer. They are all single-serve packages – offering us convenience and ease of use. Pop a tea bag into the mug and you’re done; drop the tablet into the compartment in the dishwasher and that’s clean cutlery taken care of; and slip the capsule in the appropriate place in the machine and your special brew is on the way.
Now time for another question: which out of these three is the odd one out?
Well, perhaps you were thinking of something different, but what I would like to point out is the fact that two of these can be disposed of entirely, whilst one of them can be recycled but only with the investment of significant effort (it could involve making a trek to Selfridges). Got it?
The below quote gives it away:
Picture this. It’s the year 3013. Baffled cyborg archaeologists unearth mounds of colourful plastic and aluminum pods with strange, Italianate names. What do these archaeologists conclude about life in the early 21st century? That we were a sophisticated society who sipped espressos under the direction of our great leader, George Clooney, or that we created mountains of waste so we could drink average coffee from overpriced machines?
Now that dear old teabag would have composted away, whilst the coating on the dishwasher table would have melted during use and the contents got washed away during the cycle. The pod remains.
