Standing in front of three possible receptacles, peering at a cup made of mystery material, it suddenly occurred to me that up until, say, the advent of metal being used for stuff, the question: "is this compostable?" was superfluous. Because--guess what--pretty much everything on the planet was compostable.
Aside from the fear, ignorance, pestilence, war and relentless labor, it must have been quite a carefree, restful time.