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A BOOK
FROM THE FUTURE

In the book Back to the Plastic Age, Dr Pipe, an archaeologist from the year 2132, talks to children from the future about his specialist subject: the Plastic Age. He explains the environmental problems caused by plastic a hundred years ago. And he introduces the young heroes who were tackling the plastic problem.

Travel with us to the future and see how people are amazed at the times we live in today. A time where people threw away their cutlery after a party, albatrosses were harmed because of the plastic waste and manufacturers put microplastics in toothpaste.

IN CONVERSATION WITH
THE WRITER

For this website, we travelled through time to 2132.
We interview Dr Peter V.C. Pipe, the author of the book Back to the Plastic Age.

WHEN WAS THE
THE PLASTIC AGE EXACTLY?

I usually say it’s from 1950 to 2030. Plastic was around earlier, but it was not mass-produced and rarely thrown away. After the Plastic Age, it was still produced, but it became less disposable . I have a beautiful plastic comb: I treat it carefully!

WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO
BACK AND VISIT THE PLASTIC AGE?

Not to stay. It must have been awful to see the world in such a mess of plastic soup. But I would really like to spend a few weeks there and talk to people about disposable plastic I still can’t understand how they managed to create that situation. And I’d like to speak to some of those young heroes to thank them for doing a great job.

WHY DID YOU WRiTE
THE BOOK?

My neighbour Bram and his classmate Miriam came to watch an excavation once. They had lots of questions. It made me realise that the children of my time know very little about the Plastic Age.

WHAT DO YOU FIND
SO INTERESTING
ABOUT THE PLASTIC AGE?

It was a time when two global problems began: the climate problem and the plastic problem. The people themselves were responsible for causing both problems, so they were capable of solving them too. And eventually they did.