NOVEL WEB Chapter 21: Keeping Oneself Hydrated
[Ohhh. Here it is.]
As Hiroki was unloading a large package from a delivery truck, he was approached by Ishida, who had spotted the scene.
[President, what’s that?]
[Ahh, I was looking for a trash can on the internet and found a nice one.]
Hiroki searched for a container to deal with the food waste, raw meat and animal carcass that was talked about last week, and the company had now received what they had ordered.
[A…… drum trash can?]
[Kind of. It’s one of those that you can open and close the lid.]
At Ishida’s question, Hiroki opened the top of the drum.
It’s an open drum, a container with a drum lid that can be sealed.
The drums are standardized, so they are inexpensive to manufacture and easy to transport. In other words, cheap.
[We should put these drums in the office and security’s office and use them as trash cans. If we just number them and keep track of their number, there shouldn’t be any problems. I don’t think trash cans are things that people would bother to steal.]
Ishida tried to carry the drum with both arms, but he staggered.
[……If you let the elderly security guards carry something this heavy, they could end up in a work-related injury.]
[Is it really that heavy?]
Hiroki hadn’t thought about that at all.
It was a barrel made of iron plates, so it couldn’t be described as light for ordinary people.
[In that case, they should just put the waste in it and let it roll. It would look a lot better than the way I carry the boar carcass now with ropes around them, where others can basically see what happened to the boar. I’m basically the one carrying it, and if they really want to carry it themselves, they can roll it or use a push cart dolly. Ahh, I guess I should also order a forklift huh.]
[A forklift? Indeed, it’s about time we have at least one of the heavy machines.]
Logistics warehouses and factories are always equipped with forklifts.
Forklifts are used for lifting and unloading heavy items.
In fact, Hiroki himself had the license to operate a forklift.
Hiroki actually thinks that forklifts aren’t necessary because he’s here, but rumors spreading inside and outside the company are troublesome.
He used to work as close to the hole as possible to throw the waste in it, but his job as the President of the company has become so busy that it’s difficult for him to be around the hole 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
If this is the case, it may be time to invest in machinery and equipment to at least keep the waste clean and collected.
[……Even so, these open drums are quite nice, aren’t they?]
[Aren’t they?]
Drums are sturdy, inexpensive and commonplace.
Containers used for distribution must be standardized products.
[Products like this probably have processed inner coating, right? If this is the case, we might be able to accept liquid wastes.]
[Liquid waste huh……]
Drums can also hold liquid wastes.
Just fill the drums with the garbage or liquid wastes, open the opening at the rim of the hole and pour the contents through it.
If it can be reused, do so, and if it can’t be reused, throw the entire drum into the hole.
Waste disposal would be much more efficient with it.
At that moment, Hiroki wonders if it was time for the Custom-Made Large Shovel No.8 that he had been using for so long to retire.
……He feels like it was a waste though, as he still hasn’t used it for a year.
[However, are dealing with liquid waste that big of a need that they would have them disposed here?]
Liquids are heavy, which means that transportation costs are added to the cost.
Since liquid waste is, so to speak, a disposal cost after profits have been earned from commercial activities, unless regulated by law, downward pressure on prices will be exerted on it.
This is why chemical plants are often built in developing countries.
It was also mentioned how in the old days, there used to be bubbles floating in the rivers of Tokyo because of the drippings of liquid waste.
[Of course, we have our merits! Our company’s processing method is cheap after all.]
[I guess that’s true.]
After all, all their company has to do is bring the waste and pour it down the hole.
No company with a cost structure that can compete with Hiroki’s company will ever emerge.
[For example, when a company treats liquid waste, they would generally set up a sedimentation tank to separate the toxic components into solid and liquid first. The solids are easier to dispose of after all.]
[I see.]
Hearing Ishida’s explanation, Hiroki thought of it as just the same as water filtration treatment.
[Establishing a treatment plant takes up space, and requires a catalyst and energy. And since the liquid is still toxic, it would still need to be precipitated or catalyzed in a separate process and released into the atmosphere, or diluted with water and discharged into rivers and oceans.]
[In the end, you would need to discharge them huh.]
[Yes, one would need to dilute it and discharge to large bodies of water. That was the only way of disposing them.]
Hiroki frowned, thinking what a waste of time and money it is.
[Then, how about we do that too?]
[Yes! Leave it to us! This will definitely be a big business!]
Ishida happily puffed out his chest, before he muttered.
[And of course, we’ll have to run some more tests for that.]
[You’re right. We have to be very careful about the tests.]
At MCTBH, “tests” means “theory building and waste setting for dummy data creation”.
Aside from throwing waste into the hole, this is the company’s core process, where they set up the required energy and waste to be emitted based on a fictitious theory for external sensor and report generation. After all, it’s bad for public appearances if they just stated that they were throwing garbage in some sort of magical hole and have nothing come out from it.
[It’s not the same as falsifying data. The data never existed in the first place after all.]
Ishida, who is now a very well-paid employee, is happy to get down to work.
Hiroki hopes that times like this continue, where he could continue to work without any trouble.
If “something” happens to Ishida, his work will be delayed.
After Ishida leaves, Hiroki scoops up the waste piled up around the hole with a shovel and throws a lot of it into the hole.
[The waste I could throw is gradually piling up. However, is it safe to throw liquid into the hole?]
As he mumbled to himself while working, for the first time in a while, he thought he heard a voice, rumbling “Gyiiiii” from deep inside the hole.