Don’t count things that have been discarded.
Do count objects or things that are stocked on shelves or stockpiled for future use.
Paper is hard to quantify, as is rope or wire.
I’m thinking of single objects, or objects that can be made of different and or multiple materials. A knife might have a wooden handle but it is one object.
Money/currency is made of many different types of materials, but serve the same purpose. Each note or coin would be one object.
Screwdrivers would be one class of object. Tools in general would be different types of objects. They fill different rolls.
My vote - Nails, lots and lots of nails hold the world together. I must have 2000 loose nails in my shed. Another couple of thousand hold my house together. There are billions of stockpiled nails.
I thought about soda cans and shovels too. Just about everyone has access to a shovel of some sort. I have 6 shovels, but thousands of nails hold my home and many other homes together. And there are billions of soda cans. But how many soda cans are useful after they serve their purpose? 99.99% become waste after they are used (please don’t ask me for a site for that figure).
I’m am thinking about objects that are used and retain their function, or are used for something else.
What about plastic bottles? Nearly indestructible. They have many uses. The nail still holds my house together. Will for many years.
Buttons. They’ve been around for centuries: they’ll be around for centuries: they’re made of bone, stone, rubber, plastic, shell, metal, wood, thread, ceramic, glass; they can be reused endlessly.
Staples? (I guess that’s no fair. I just saw the Laker game on TV played at, you know, that place, tonight ) But really, staples are used in such volume, they might be close to nails (which I still think is the best answer). Way to go, ** enipla**. Interesting post.
