- Home
- Paul Stretton-Stephens
The Plastic Paradigm
The Plastic Paradigm Read online
The Plastic Paradigm
A Jack Jago Novella
By
Paul Stretton-Stephens
Never Miss a Release, Giveaway or News.
I will occasionally send out a newsletter, but only if I have something to meaningful say about a new release, giveaway or some other news that I think my readers will be interested in. So, why not subscribe to my mailing list today, to ensure that you're always in the know.
Oh, and by signing up, you’ll also receive the bonus of two FREE publications.
You can find details of how to sign up at the end of this book.
Published by Pen of Paul Media
Copyright Notice
Copyright ©, P. Stretton-Stephens (2018), All right reserved
For information about permission to reproduce selections for this book, contact P. Stretton-Stephens via [email protected]
The moral right of Paul Stretton-Stephens to be identified as the Author of Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA)
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior permission in writing of the author and or publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any other form than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN 978-1-9995971-0-8 (eBook)
Author Paul Stretton-Stephens – The Plastic Paradigm
Advisory Notices:
This publication is intended for persons over the age of eighteen due to the nature of the themes within it.
The author is British and writes in British English.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - What a Day!
Chapter 2 - The Fisherman
Chapter 3 - The Revelation
Chapter 4 - Three’s a Crowd
Chapter 5 - Too Many Firsts
Chapter 6 - Information is King
Chapter 7 - Book Covers
Chapter 8 - It Pays to Snoop
Chapter 9 – A Friend in Need
Chapter 10 - Pure Waste
Chapter 11 - It’s in the Detail
Chapter 12 - Professional Dramatics
Chapter 13 - Manipulation
Chapter 14 - Into the Lion’s Den
Chapter 15 - Under Threat
Chapter 16 - Head of the Snake
Chapter 17 - Show Time
Chapter 18 - Time is a Healer
Thank you
Plastic Pollution
About the Author
Bibliography
Join my Reader Community Today!
A Final Few Words
Chapter 1 - What a Day!
The dock workers, drivers and passing seamen gasped at the limp figure hanging from the anchor chain of the Duke’s Crown, a dark hulled bunker ship in port for a refit.
A crowd of around twenty had gathered port side. In the background, a cacophony of sirens wailed their ever-increasing volume as they drew close. The sun was still relatively high in the sky on this summer’s evening, and it was easy to see that the figure was that of a slim young man with long, dark, swathing hair that clung to his face and head. He was secured to the anchor by his wrists and his body swayed with a slight movement created by the murky harbour waters. He was wearing dark blue overalls tied at the waist by a yellow safety belt.
Three men hung over the side of the ship, looking down at the hanging man. One of the men shouted instructions at the others below, who were desperately trying to reach the chain from a small launch. Their immediate dilemma was that if they managed to cut him free, would he end up in the water?
Suggestions were being called from the port side by the professed expertise of the audience. All of which were magnanimously ignored.
A port police launch approached the dangling chain and pulled alongside the Duke’s Crown. A police officer instructed the ship’s captain to lower the anchor slowly. He maintained radio contact as the chain was lowered and gave the order to stop when the officer could safely grasp the body. One officer quickly photographed the hanging corpse, and then zoomed in to take a close up of the ties that bound him before cutting him free. The body was laid on the deck of the launch and checked for signs of life. As the boat steered towards the dockside, ambulance crews waited, and beyond them, farther up the stone steps, a line of police kept the growing crowd at bay. Reporters and photographers started to appear, and they too were held back.
A paramedic boarded the launch and examined the lifeless body. After the well-rehearsed process, a blanket was placed over the corpse. The paramedic discussed the case with the police officers, after which the scenes of crime officer, CID, and the coroner’s office were requested to attend.
The crowd started to disperse, not because they had been told to, more due to not being able to see anything gruesome. As the group diminished, Kim, a shipping clerk at the freight forwarders office of Pontus Freight Forwarding Limited, started out on her way home. She had to pass the kerfuffle to exit the port via the North exit, the point nearest her bus stop. She’d not heard the commotion as her office faced seaward and continuous telephone calls had kept her busy. But now she paused, curious, and asked a worker, “Hey, Stan, what’s happening?”
“Nothing for your eyes, young Kim. Nothing for you to worry about.”
“Come on, Stan, I’m a big girl now. What is it?”
As she asked, she caught sight of the police and paramedics transferring a body from a stretcher into a matt black body bag. Kim just managed to glimpse the familiar slim face, partly covered by the long, dark hair. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. And then Kim spotted the fluorescent belt and overalls of her friend, Ian. She gasped, simultaneously clasping her hands to her face in the horrific realisation that her friend lay dead.
Stan continued, “The poor guy was found hanging by his wrists on the Duke’s anchor. She arrived late last night and pulled anchor to move to dry dock about an hour ago. He must have been under all of that time. He must have seriously upset someone.”
Kim left Stan’s side and headed for the bus stop. She thought to herself how she had tried to call Ian the evening before, about 9 p.m. And how someone else had answered his mobile phone. She considered telling the police, but it was all too public a place for that. She would have no idea who was watching.
As she passed through the port gate, two casually dressed men drew near to her from either side, forcefully guiding her to one side and behind some containers. They were out of sight of everyone else leaving the port.
“Hello, Kim. What did you want to speak to Ian about last evening?”
“Who are you? Leave me alone!”
She tried to pull away from their grip to no avail.
“Feisty, are you? Well, we’ll see about that. I mean look what happened to young Ian. Now answer the question.”
She looked at him with disdain before answering, “I was going to arrange a blind date for him. But he didn’t answer.”
“What kind of blind date?”
“What kinds are there? He goes out with someone he’s never met before, and I’ve arranged it.”
The taller of the two slapped her across the face.
“Don’t get gobby with me love. Or it’ll be the last thing you do.”
She held her face, and through her sobs asked, “What do you want with me?”
“Yes, I understand. I’m going nowhere. I’ve nowhere to go.”
“What, a pretty little thing like you? No boyfriend? Oh, I get it, you’re into girls.”
They flung her to the floor and went on their way. She composed herself and cleaned herself up as best as she could after being on the oil-stained ground. She patted a tissue against the corner of her mouth which was bleeding a little. She cradled her sore face with one hand.
As she entered the open space, she saw that she had just missed her bus so decided to walk. As she started out, she opened her mobile to call her friend, Katie.
“Hi Kim, how are you?”
The walk home passed quickly for Kim as she recounted the events to her Ocean Beautiful activist friend.
Once home, she quickly changed and then made her way on foot to Katie’s place on the other side of the town. She was oblivious to the two occupants of a silver Mercedes watching her as she walked along the windy streets. The passenger aimed his telephoto lens at Kim, recording her every move.
When Kim approached the Giles Hill Community Centre, she was alone. She heaved open the large glass door which was covered by a colourful poster for the Ocean Beautiful Organisation, an organisation to protect and enhance marine life. There was an eclectic gathering of about twenty people inside the hall. They were eagerly awaiting a talk from Doctor Joseph Linden who was busy making preparations to give a talk on research concerning the effect of plastic on marine life.
A few more people arrived just before the doctor was about to commence and, finally, the group of about fifty in all sat attentively throughout the hour-long presentation. As the doctor drew to a close, he invited questions from the audience.
A fresh-faced man in his mid-twenties asked, “How much plastic is actually out there? I mean, is it quantifiable? What are we up against?”
The doctor smiled, “Well, I think that we have three interconnected questions here. Let me address them one at a time. Firstly, let’s get some perspective on the problem and look at how much plastic there is. A recent global study was published in Science Advances July 2017. This study analysed all of the mass-produced plastic that has ever been manufactured. Now think about that for a moment.” The doctor paused to allow the audience to absorb the statement. He continued, “The authors, Geyer, Jambeck and Law, arrived at an estimated figure of 8,300 million metric tons of plastics that have been produced to date, and they further state that the vast majority has ended up in our environment. Some of their main findings include: About ninety-one per cent of plastic isn't recycled, and only twelve per cent has been incinerated, seventy-nine per cent of plastic went into landfills or the natural environment, and I count the seas and oceans as a huge part of our natural environment. So, I think that this data answers the first two questions, does it not? And, how much plastic is actually out there and is it quantifiable? One of the other questions was, if I recall correctly, what are we up against?” He paused and paced in front of the audience, searching for his words.
“The largest market for plastics is packaging. It’s been fuelled by a global shift from reusable to single-use containers, and growth in the consumer population. That’s the first thing, but to illustrate this let’s have some figures that demonstrate that growth. In 2015, the world created 448 million tons of plastic — more than twice as much as made back in 1998.”
A woman raised a hand.
“Yes, please. What is your question?”
She asked, “If we have such growth and it keeps growing, what will happen, not just to marine life but all aspects of life?”
“Excellent question. I have no crystal ball — I wish that I did, but I don’t. But I do have data projections that show that if current production and waste management trends were to continue, roughly 12,000 metric tons of plastic waste would be in landfills or the natural environment by 2050. And when I say natural environment, I count the seas and oceans within that.”
The audience was silent, taking in the scale of what the doctor had just stated.
A middle-aged woman asked, “Are any of the plastics used biodegradable?”
“It seems not … no, not really. You see, without getting too technical, most of what we call monomers are used to make plastics, such as ethylene and propylene, and these are derived from fossil hydrocarbons. This results in one of the commonly used plastics being biodegradable.”
“But why isn’t it being recycled?”
“Well, there are many reasons, but mainly it isn’t seen as a profitable option, and the population and governments haven’t bought into the magnitude of the problem, and therefore there are no incentives. There is no education, and the problem worsens day by day. On top of that, some countries will buy plastics for recycling, but some unscrupulous, greedy profiteers take the money to transport it and then dump their loads at sea, polluting marine life and affecting its habitat. Marine life often cannot determine the difference between food and plastic. For example, fish eat the polymer beads. We catch them for the table, and our food chain is affected. It’s as simple as that in many cases.”
Katie asked, “What can we do to prevent further devastation to marine life?”
“Support our organisation. We are intent on bringing about change through education, lobbying of politicians, and campaigning. We’re also considering the tracking of plastics, many of which lead a signature, origin if you will.”
Kim thoughtfully asked, “And what will happen to those who dump plastics into our oceans?”
“Currently not a great deal happens. There is just not the deterrent that we would like. We plan to lobby for tougher measures, higher company fines et cetera. As an example, I ought to mention a case whereby a company was found guilty of an illegal waste shipment. The company recently appeared at a Magistrates Court facing charges relating to the illegal waste shipment; they hid illegal waste in a shipment which was subsequently inspected. They were fined a mere twenty-three thousand pounds, which is not much more than it would have cost them to dispose of it legally. We intend to change that.” The doctor looked at his watch and announced, “I’m very sorry ladies and gentleman, but we’ll have to close now, we’re over time already. Thank you for coming this evening. I appreciate your support.”
The audience clapped and dispersed for refreshments which Katie and Kim helped make with other volunteers. As they made the hot water they discretely chatted about the day’s events in more depth and Katie was horrified.
“Kim, why don’t you stay at my place tonight?”
“No, I’ll be okay. It was just a bit of shock, that’s all. I didn’t know Ian too well, we just had the odd conversation, and he sent the odd photo on social media. I’ll be all right, honestly.”
Chapter 2 - The Fisherman
As the gathering broke up for the evening, Katie and Kim left together, walking through the lamp-lit streets. They parted their ways near Katie’s home, leaving Kim with a twenty-minute walk home along a main street. She felt safe on the main road as she passes three pubs, a petrol service station, and a small row of shops with a fish and chip shop and a Chinese takeaway. There were plenty of people in the vicinity until the last five minutes of her walk. Turning into her street, where she has a small flat on the first floor of a Victorian house, she could see her home a couple of hundred feet ahead. As she was lost in her thoughts, a car screeched to a halt in front of her. She froze as the same two men who approached her earlier snatched her and dragged her into the back of their car.
Between them they tied her hands with PlastiCuffs and placed a dark-coloured hood over her head.
“Scream and you’re dead. Do you understand?”
Terrified and shaking, Kim nodded compliantly.
“Right, you pretty little bitch, we want to know everything. Why were you friends with Ian? What goes on in that meeting, and what have you told your friends? And one way or another, you�
�re going to tell us.”
One of the men remained in the back seat with Kim while the other took the driving seat.
They set off and appeared to be driving around aimlessly. Kim had no idea where she was. They obviously stopped at some traffic lights and Kim heard the 10.30 p.m. chimes of the old clock in the docks. She also heard the huge cranes loading the containers. They run twenty-four hours a day and their motorised noise is unmistakable.
The car came to a halt and Kim figured that they must be near the dock.
The driver got out and the two men dragged her into a darkened room. She heard background noise, and it sounded like a pub.
They spread her on her front, belly side down on the top of a table, and tied her hands and ankles to the table legs. They removed the pillow case but gagged her with some cloth. She adjusted her eyes and recognised the worn carpet of the dockside tavern. She’d been there a couple of times, but it was a real rough drinkers’ haunt and not a place for nice young ladies and their friends.
“Right, young Kim, we want some answers to our questions. And if we don’t get the right answers, you’re in more trouble than you can imagine.”
Kim looked the man in the eye defiantly.
“I’m sure that you’ll take that look out of your eyes when we’ve finished with you.”
“Let’s get started. Question one. Why were you friendly with Ian? What was your relationship with him?”
He gently removed the gag and warned, “Scream and you’ll pay for it dearly.”
She went to speak but screamed instead and felt a monstrous blow in her kidney area. The pain seared through her body. She tried desperately to scream again but her cries were muffled for fear of more maltreatment, the torturous pain in her back causing tears to flow freely down her face and onto the carpet.