Date – 2115

Place – Reykjavik, Iceland

After decades of international discussion, the latter part of the 21st century saw legal plastic production decrease and was eventually banned. New technologies were developed to replace some plastic uses, but the way that plastic had become central to life in the century since 1950 meant that in practice there remained a high level of demand for the material. Illicit scavenging and illegal recycling became major activities for organised crime, with operations hidden in out-of-the-way areas with low population densities, such as Iceland.

The small fraction of the Icelandic population that owned and exploited the country’s mineral resources had continued to flourish, but as fish stocks declined, Iceland’s general population suffered from increasingly high unemployment. Reykjavik 

was an easy target for the international crime gangs, who found a willing – even desperate – work force. They moved in and rapidly made deals with the local mineral magnates, who provided them with access to existing logistics networks and global shipping in which to hide the illegal plastic exports. Rare complete plastic objects from before the plastic ban were often kept as status symbols by crime bosses or used as bribes to high-ranking government officials. This beautiful object is believed to be one that was recorded as being discovered in a raid by the tax authorities on the fortified villa of the Reykjavik – based Chief Executive officer of the F-Co mining company in 2100. Found in the CEO’s private vault, it was almost certainly subsequently sold into the black market by a corrupt tax official and thus eventually made its way to the Solway retreat of a crime gang boss around 2115. It is believed to be part of a little understood child’s game

Return to exhibition