Gargantutrash, the Legend

         The story of Gargantutrash is a legend in these parts.  Although the people of Trashville live in peace with the monster now, there was a time, years back, when a very angry Gargantutrash rose out of his home buried deep in the landfill and became a threat to the entire township.

         Gargantutrash had lived in the Trashville Landfill for at least a hundred years.  He was born and raised here at the town dump and had lived here happily with his whole family, a strange family indeed.  You see, they were made out of garbage, lived in trash, and ate nothing but trash. 

Garganutrash was the biggest of the monsters and he was gooey, smelly and rather ugly to look at.  No one had ever been bothered by the trash monsters, and man and monster had lived peacefully side by side until strange things began to happen.  The landfill monster was becoming angry at the towns-people and you could hear his ROARS at night.  Then the residents of Trashville started to find garbage all over town, even in their own yards, in their chimneys and on their front porches.  It became common for trash to come flying back when heaved into the landfill, which incidentally was the only dump in Trashville.

         Finally, one hot summer evening, Gargantutrash crawled out of his home in the landfill.  He paraded his filthy self up and down the streets of the town, throwing trash everywhere and his frustrated roars could be heard by all.  The towns-people; men, women and children alike, all huddled together in the town square, fearing the worst.  Gargantutrash spoke to the frightened gathering and all were amazed that he spoke English.  The trash monster spoke of "good trash" and "bad trash" and they looked at one and other, not knowing what he meant.  He said that creatures like him needed bad trash, in order to thrive, and that the people of Trashville were throwing away too much good trash.  He complained that the good trash was littering up his home and neighborhood.  A few chuckles were heard from the crowd.  He sounded more worried and sad than mean and scary, and the townsfolk were no longer afraid.  He explained how "good trash" such as glass and plastic bottles, cans and paper, wasn't really trash at all, because it could be reused or recycled to make new things that people need.  He said that everyone was throwing away things that weren't real trash, and that was wasteful.  The Trash Monster also said that there would be trouble in Trashville if people continued to throw recyclables into his home at the landfill.

         Gargantutrash turned out to be a pretty decent monster, after all.  Although the big smelly fellow didn't actually threaten to destroy Trashville, he made it quite clear that they would be very sorry in the future unless they became more careful about what went into his dump.  When the townspeople promised the monster that they would, no longer, throw away recyclables, he was appeased and made his way back home to the landfill.

         These days in Trashville, you will never find a 2-liter plastic bottle or an empty can of this-or-that lying around.  The landfill is always full of un-recyclable "bad trash" and you never hear angry rumblings from below.  The Mayor had to hire new town employees called "City Recycle Coordinators" to tend to the overflowing recycle bins located all over town.