What The Man Who Invented the Recycling Symbol Thinks Today |
Gary Anderson was studying architecture at the University of Southern California when he saw the poster. It was 1970, and environmentalism was in the air, along with a broader antiestablishment vibe. “It was hippies, it was love‑ins, it was be‑ins,” he recalls. “A big stew pot full of ideas and emotions.” He shared those ideals. Plus, he didn’t have much money, so the $2,500 prize on offer may have been part of why the ad caught his eye too. The Container Corporation of America—a major cardboard box maker—wanted a symbol to represent recycling, and it was sponsoring a contest to find one.
Anderson had studied some graphic design, and he had an idea of what a good logo should aim for: “It needed to be very clear, very simple. And so I thought, ‘Well, I could do this,’” he tells me. “‘I already have the drafting tools.’” He sat down to brainstorm. The word recycle “brought to mind something kind of circular, in motion,” reminding him of a long‑ago school trip to a newspaper printing plant. He’d been entranced by the big rolls of paper and the long sheets of it running through the air, from one part of the press to another. He thought, too, of his fascination with the Möbius strip—a loop of paper with a twist in it that has unique mathematical........