Stanislaw Lem on Packaging Materials

Our mighty civilization strives for the production of commodities as impermanent as possible in packaging as permanent as possible. The impermanent product must soon be replaced by a new one, and this is good for the economy; the permanence of the packaging, on the other hand, makes its disposal difficult, and this promotes the further development of technology and organization. Thus the consumer copes with each consecutive article of junk on an individual basis, whereas for the removal of the packaging; special antipollution programs are required, sanitary engineering, the coordination of efforts, planning, purification and decontamination plants, and so on.