The Valley of Plastic

The Valley Of Plastic Part 13

I never clapped eyes on that man again, the man who saved Tim. It was like he disappeared, I noticed. I think I unintentionally looked out for him around every corner, and down every street. He had done the unthinkable, he stood up to them, they who hold the guns and the power. The rumour mill suggests it didn't work in his favour though. Some of the older ladies, I say older I mean mid to late twenties, had supposedly heard rumours that he was killed. The soldiers had dragged him from his bed and beaten him to death behind the mess Hall. This could be a plausible rumour, given there was a human length lump of dug up soil round there, but I have trouble believing it. I think the only way that could have worked is if they had taken every single soldier to confront him - I swear that man's presence was enough alone to battle the wildest of beasts let alone a bunch of teenagers swinging punches. I don't know what happened, I probably never will, but I do know it was the bravest thing I'd ever seen (next to Andrea taking Max and Olivia the day of the collection). Tim, because of that man was able to welcome his beautiful little girl into the world with his girlfriend. They named her Annabella. She is six months old now. That baby has a dad because of that man. One man stood against the masses.

The smell woke me this time. My senses don't let me sleep long enough to wait for the siren. The entire time we have been here we've been sifting through single use plastic, plastic bottles, food packaging ECT. While there is still a lot of that going on, some lucky people get to face what the soldiers are calling 'soiled plastic', referring to everyday household items that we have all used at one time or another, that maybe not solidly plastic, but have plastic in them - nappies, wipes, food tins (plastic linings), toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, sanitary products and so on! I'm sure you could imagine many more. However, I doubt you could muster up the imagination to consider just how putrid the scent was that spewed out of the delivery wagons! Imagine decade's worth of Plastic toothbrushes, scattered with rubbish from landfill, unrinsed food tins that have sat in landfill waiting patiently for the hundreds of years it will take them to decompose into micro plastics! Used contraceptive products, hygiene products all sat swarmed in left overs and filth in landfill to be uprooted and dropped literally at our door step. I definitely would not say I am the luckiest girl in the world.

Today's load of putrid disgust comes with another troop of helpers, referred to as two-point-oh-ers. A group of people from the west of the country dragged up here to this pit of North-Eastern left overs and bile. Lucky them.

I flop out of my bed and into the familiar boiler suit. Although it was once white, now it is a very dark dull grey with a number of unremovable stains, which had the scent of Plastic and sweat stuck to it. Andrea, Olivia and Max were still sound asleep, and I wasn't going to wake them - it's Saturday, and the one Saturday a month they're allowed off. Of course this is a probationary trial that has been rolled out to every staff member, other than the Cleaners and soldiers.

It is still far too early to start work, the siren hasn't gone yet and there is not many people around. I drag my tired body to the hill that sits behind our hut and sit directly at the top of the rounded peak. Even as I look out over the mounds of Plastic, I can still see the sun rising slowly, licking the sky orange, pink and yellow making the trees in the extremely far off distance look like small black shilluettes of tictacs.

"Early bird catches the worm," I don't recognise the voice that makes me jump from behind me. I immediately freeze convinced it is going to be a soldier. Although I've done nothing wrong I feel immediately guilty.