Three Plastic Cartons…

…Les, Phil and Chris, sat on a kitchen shelf at the Golden Dragon takeaway.

In wandered a young man wearing a smart leather jacket and his high-heeled girlfriend, bedecked with bangles and a pretty necklace. He fancied Chow Mein, she a Chicken Curry. The chef went to work, eventually grabbing Les, filling him with rice, squeezing a top onto him and placing him in a white plastic bag. Les felt happy to be useful, and hoped the couple would appreciate their meal.

But, just as he was feeling the loss of half his load of rice, the young woman shouted, “okay, I’ve had enough of that stuff” and lobbed him and his contents disdainfully over a hedge where he joined several other discarded items of packaging. That night came a gale, tossing Les and his new friends in every direction before he clattered across the main street, over a low wall and into the river.

-o-O-o-

Phil was delighted when he was called into action. The customers were an elderly gentleman who had chosen Fried Rice laden with King Prawns, and his wife, who had chosen Chop Suey. The couple drove home where plates were warming in a cosy oven, ready to be filled with the feast. They kindly shared their choices with each other, but from the rate at which they tackled the prawn crackers it was obvious they wouldn’t have the appetite to devour it all.

Phil watched with a twinge of disappointment as the leftover half his precious cargo was unloaded into a square brown tub, before he was unceremoniously dumped into a waste bin along with tissues, bits of rolled up foil and dirty containers.

-o-O-o-

“Am I to be left on the shelf tonight?” wondered Chris. At that moment, in walked a middle-aged man accompanied by a girl, giggling at a video on her phone. “Come on, Cassie,” said the man, “let’s concentrate on ordering our food.” They ordered three meals between them plus a bag of spring rolls. Chris was filled with rice to accompany ‘Beef with Satay Sauce’. They also ordered a Mushroom dish with Chips, and Pork with Spring Onion and Ginger. Back home, the cartons were placed in the oven to warm. Chris looked out on a table which was set with five plates for Mum, Dad, Cassie and two younger boys. Whilst they waited, all heads were bowed and the room fell silent. And then Chris saw Cassie speak, as if thanking someone unseen for the lovely meal they were about to enjoy. 

And enjoy it they did! Chris felt so much at home; the family ate generous portions, yet almost every morsel was enthusiastically eaten. A tub of ice cream  with raspberries and chocolate sauce appeared afterwards, whereupon ‘full’ tummies miraculously made room for a wee bit more.

Dad washed up afterwards, with one of the boys. Just as Chris was expecting to be binned, Dad placed him in the bowl and said, “Let’s clean this carton up. It’ll make a good container for your sandwiches next week.” And Chris was used, then washed, a dozen more times – once even going into the freezer with soup inside – before he developed a crack. He was cleaned one last time, then placed in a recycling bin.

-o-O-o-

What became of Les, Phil and Chris? Let’s follow their stories.

Two days later, Les bobbed out to sea. Battered by ocean currents, he sailed for a year on the oceans of the world, carried to and fro by the currents, gradually disintegrating into thousands of pieces, some of which were eaten by fish, others finding their resting place in the great oceanic garbage patches (see picture). The remains of the meal were eaten by a rat, contributing to the nuisance factor of their increasing population across the town.

Phil’s fate was quickly sealed. The waste bag containing him was placed in a wheelie bin, then emptied into a dustbin lorry. The lorry’s contents were tipped onto a conveyor belt at an ‘Energy from Waste’ site. Phil is now part of the atmosphere, having been incinerated at 850ºC. The rice he carried fared slightly better; the contents of the food waste bin were emptied into an anaerobic digestor where bacteria converted it into methane, CO₂ and compost. The methane was fed into the natural gas grid.

 And Chris? He was taken to a material recovery facility where he was separated into the polythene recycling stream, sliced into chips and returned to a plastic bottle manufacturing plant to begin life all over again!  

-o-O-o-

Les – and the food he contained – became pollutants. Phil and his contents were disposed of safely and converted into energy. But Chris was both re-used and recycled, and no food was wasted.

[The picture of the girl praying is from Pixabay. That of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is from the BBC website, and artist’s impression.]