In his hand he held: a used napkin, a banana peel, a small milk carton with leftovers, and a plastic fork. And then… he completely froze.
He stared at the bins for a long time, making small hand gestures back and forth as if working through a four-step proof, and muttered to himself:
“But if the plastic has been in contact with organic waste, then… which entropic system applies?” People began forming a line behind him, but Emil was fully caught up in an inner crisis of waste-disposal philosophy.
At last, a cleaning lady came over, smiled, and said:
“Sweetie, it all ends up in the same container out back anyway.”
He stared at her silently for ten seconds… and then tossed everything into a single bin. Later, he was seen in the library drawing a flowchart of municipal waste management—“just to be sure next time.”
