Gary Anderson

The Recycling Symbol and its Designer, Gary Anderson 

Introduction

Beyond the recycling community and to a few die-hards of the Möbius strip, the background to the recycling symbol and its designer, Gary Anderson, is little known. A few obvious questions include the circumstances of when the symbol was introduced and who the designer is. Upon research, this is relatively recent history (in my lifetime), with the beginnings not totally lost in the mists of time and so pleasingly can be more or less fully answered, with only a few largely insignificant aspects left to be resolved. In short, the recycling symbol, of three chasing arrows folded in a Möbius strip, was designed by Anderson, in 1969, in response to a competition to raise awareness of environmental issues. The background is that Container Corporation of America (CCA), a large producer of recycled paperboard, sponsored a contest for art and design students at high schools and colleges across the country in 1969. It was won by Anderson, then a 23-year-old college student at the University of Southern California. It was immediately used at the first Earth Day on 22 April 1970 (an annual event to demonstrate support for environmental protection and still running today), albeit it was not immediately widely adopted by the recycling industry. Indeed, Anderson himself had rarely seen the symbol in the US, and it was not until some ten years later that he noted it widely displayed prominently on recycle bins in Amsterdam. To some extent, the man himself had also largely been forgotten. This degree of near anonymity then changed somewhat, when Penny Jones and Jerry Powell (with an interest in recycling) hunted him down in 1999 and got his story. From this, there was a renewed surge of interest in him, mostly from the environmental community, rather than the mathematical. Even so, interviews are relatively rare, albeit more frequent in recent times. Historical pictures, and accounts, are also rare. Indeed, there appears to be only one picture with Anderson associated with the competition! The original artwork appears to have been lost in a fire in Anderson’s garage.

I must admit, I dare say like many others, I do not recall when I first became aware of the recycling symbol. As I show in the text, it was only slowly adopted, with only a handful of pictorial representations in the US for the years 1970–1980 (and one in the UK, in 1977). The UK instance is somewhat of an outlier, as it is next discussed in 1989! Some indication of the slow initial take-up, as Anderson relates, is that he was shocked when he first saw it in Amsterdam, on an igloo-shaped recycling bin sometime after 1980.

BEGINNINGS 

Contemporary (i.e. 1970s) photos of Anderson and the recycling symbol are at a premium. There are only two known photos. Fig. 1 (a) shows Anderson and Hans Buehler, the general manager of the CCA, with the winning design, in 1970, and (b) a sketch by Anderson in a letter home to his mother. The symbol is also said to have been used at the first Earth Day, but I have been unable to find a picture. Does anyone know of it? Do let me know! Further, the competition poster advertising the competition appears to have been lost; there is no known photograph of it. (Again does anyone know of it?) Gary Anderson, in a video interview (below) with Nicole Robertson, at 29.50, also states that he has not seen the poster since.) 

RECREATING THE EXACT PROPORTIONS OF GARY ANDERSON’S SKETCH

Of interest is in recreating the symbol accurately, with correct proportions. This is not as straightforward as it may appear. There is no ‘official’ published standard as far as I know. Within the general accepted premise (Fig. 2), (a) half-twist and (b) three-half twist models there are variations, with the arrows thinner or thicker. The Anderson model is based on the half-twist (a subtlety often missed).

Another slightly unsatisfactory element for recreation purposes of the symbol is that the only photo at the time is taken at an angle (Fig 1a), and so recreating the design exactly from that i.e. (its exact proportions and spacing) is not straightforward. However, there is the sketch from Anderson (Fig. 1b) that seemingly underpins the standard (line) illustration. There is also a contemporary orthogonal drawing which shows the design, in American Home Magazine, 1971 (Fig. 2), Of note is that even here there are minor variations in the presentation, specifically with the orientation. What has become established as the favoured presentation is the broader base at the bottom, as typified in American Home. 

Of a casual observation, the design is of three identical arrows rotated about a midpoint. However, this is not strictly so; the arrows are not identical (in both examples)! Although the outlines are indeed identical, the interiors are not! When the arrows are separated and shown in an identical orientation, the difference becomes obvious (Fig. 3). Arrow 1 is of one fold and Arrows 2 and 3 are of another. This situation is so deceptive; intuitively, and visually, the perception is of a wholly symmetrical (rotational) design. An obvious thought is why this should be so, as after all, aesthetically a wholly symmetrical design would be superior. However, there is a reason for this; although Anderson could easily have been made with three identical arrows, this would be a three half-twisted model, and not the basic one-half twist. Evidently, the more common one-twist model was preferred. 

Largely out of personal satisfaction, I decided to try and recreate the exact proportions, based on Anderson’s letter (Fig. 1b). Surprisingly, for such an obvious idea, I have not seen this elsewhere. For this, I have drawn on isometric paper, given the 60° angles of the design. The key to understanding is not of determining the overall outline, an obvious first thought (and as tried), of a broad irregular hexagon with rotational symmetry (negating the interior detail), but rather that is based of the interior, an equilateral triangle, with the arrows on the exterior. From this, the intricacies then fall swiftly into place. It will be seen that the outline remains the same, while the interior is subtly different in one of the arrows, albeit easily missed, as alluded to above. Therefore, it is essentially one drawing of an arrow, repeated three times, with the nuance of two different folds (Fig. 4). For easier comparison, I retain Anderson’s presentation in his sketch. 

This gives an exact recreation or is as near as practical as it can be. As related above, I am working from a sketch, without an isometric grid, so there may be very small differences (such as the gaps between the arrows). However, if so, these are very minor, and do not materially affect the core premise. 

I have purposefully retained the (pencilled) construction/registration lines, albeit they are hard to see in this drawing. The curves are made up of two small and large circles. As a reminder, the arrows are not all alike in interior. All well and good. However, the question remains as to the constituent of the Möbius strip - is it of one or three half-twists? I now look into this matter. To better understand the background, i.e. as a ‘pure’ Möbius strip, I also drew the same strip without the individual arrows (Fig. 5).

Continuing in the same vein, I now recreate the ‘other’ (truly rotational, of interior and outline) recycling symbol, based on the Anderson model in terms of proportions (Fig. 7). 

As can be seen, this subtly differs, in that both the interior and outline possess order 3 rotational symmetry. And likewise, I now show it as a Möbius strip without the arrows (Fig. 8).

It should be noted that this is not an original observation of myself. There are at least four others, as discussed below, albeit different in their degree of analysis. I order these by their significance. The first account, and the most significant I have seen, that discusses this topology curiosity was an article by Cliff Long, a mathematics professor, in ‘Möbius or Almost Möbius’, in 1996 (Fig. 10), albeit of a single-page discussion. I repeat the text immediately below for easier reference:

Have you noticed that there is more than one version of the ubiquitous recycling symbol? There is a distinct topological difference between these two versions, which frequently appear in newspapers and on envelopes, cardboard cartons, bottles, and recycling containers:

[Image]

Their arrows suggest forming strips with three folds, as shown in the corresponding figures below. Note that in the strip on the left the two lower folds twist the strip in opposite senses, undoing each other, while in the right-hand strip all three folds produce twists in the same sense (each a counterclockwise half-twist, if one follows the direction originally indicated by the arrow

[Image]

The strip that corresponds to the leftmost symbol has a single half-twist - it is the famous nonorientable Mobius strip. The other strip has three half-twists. A string that follows the edge of this strip around two circuits, ending where it began, forms a trefoil knot in space. This strip is a nonorientable analogue of the spanning surface for the trefoil knot discussed in a recent

Classroom Capsule [Michael Sullivan, Knots about Stokes' Theorem, CMJ 27:2 (1996) 119-122]. …

The link is dead.

This admirably describes, and illustrates, the duality aspect.

The second account I have seen that discusses this curiosity was by Ivars Peterson, also in 1996, who seemingly based his account on Long’s observation (red below is my own emphasis):

It’s hard to miss the triangle of three bent arrows that signifies recycling…
But have you noticed that there are two versions of this ubiquitous symbol? The difference between them lies in the direction of the twist in one of the three chasing arrows that make up the figure.

The late Cliff Long, who was a mathematics professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, had an eye for such details. Some time ago, Long noticed that the arrows of the usual symbol for recycling are twisted in such a way that if they were joined together in a continuous ribbon, they would form a Möbius band. Then, one day, he happened upon a second version of the recycling symbol, boldly printed in color on the front page of the Toledo Blade, that differed from the one he had originally encountered. The new version aroused his interest, and he carefully compared it with the one that was already familiar to him. Long found that the alternative recycling symbol was based on a different surface—a one-sided band formed by gluing together the two ends of a long strip of paper after giving one end three half-twists instead of just one.

The standard recycling symbol (top left) and an alternative version (top right) can be represented by continuous folded ribbons, showing that the standard form is a Möbius band made with one half-twist (bottom left) and the alternative is a one-sided band with three half-twists (bottom right).

Long discovered that many people are unaware that two different forms of the recycling symbol are now actually in use. Where did the second version come from?

Perhaps it was introduced accidentally, when someone failed to notice that the direction of the twists in the arrows makes a difference. One possibility is that an illustrator drew just one bent, twisted arrow, made two copies of it, and put the arrows in a triangle pattern, never realizing that the original symbol was meant to conform to the shape of a standard half-twist Möbius band.

3. Peter Lynch. ‘A Symbol for Global Circulation’. That’s Maths. 23 November, 2017

It is a surprising fact that there are two versions of the symbol in common use (see figure). One has

the form of a Möbius band, the other the form of a thrice-twisted band. The latter corresponds to

joining the ends of a paper strip having twisted it three times.

Likely this is based on Long’s observation, which he quotes.

4. Elizabeth Royte, who originally entered the competition, gives

Better yet, his symbol, with one of its three arrows folded over the other way, made a classic Möbius

strip (with one half-twist).

So what exactly does Anderson’s design consist of? Obviously, it is a near-flattened representation, albeit still with a degree of depth. But is it a Möbius strip with one or three half twists? To this end, I made consistent paper models (same length and width), with twists of one and three half twists. Further, for each one, I folded the strip towards and away from me, thus giving four models (Fig. 13). 

INTERVIEWS WITH GARY ANDERSON 

Of interest is Anderson's thoughts and opinions in the round. Although there are relatively few interviews (nine), in print, audio, and video (primarily by Jones and Powell, 1999; ‘as told’ Katie Engelhart, 2012; and Andrew Travers, 2024), nonetheless, what there are, are invaluable (see the main references at the end for more bibliographic details). As even the best are relatively short, of only one or two pages, where the piece is judged of a degree of worth, I show the text in full. On occasion, the text is accompanied by other background discussions, such as the CCA role, which in itself better rounds out the background. However, rather than omitting I have decided to retain to better to reflect the flavour of the interview.

Each interview is interesting to greater or lesser degrees, with much insight provided to Anderson’s role and the overall background. 

1. Penny Jones and Jerry Powell, 1999

Resource Recycling North America’s Recycling and Composting Journal. We tell the story of Gary Anderson, whose 1970 brainchild is recognized by nearly everyone on the planet.

The thousands involved in recycling — businesses, governmental agencies, environmental groups and others — owe much gratitude to a 51-year-old Baltimore resident.

As a 23-year-old college student, he won a contest sponsored by a recycled product maker, and, by doing so, graphically helped push recycling forward. With this article, written by two of the many recycling professionals who have hunted for him in the past years, we reintroduce Gary Anderson to the recycling world.

Environmentalism’s heyday

In 1969 and early 1970, national attention toward environmental issues reached a crescendo, culminating in the first Earth Day. In response, then Chicago-based Container Corporation of America, a large producer of recycled paperboard which is now part of Stone-Smurfit Corp. (St. Louis), sponsored a contest for art and design students at high schools and colleges across the country. The CCA effort was headed by Bill Lloyd, the manager of design in the company’s public relations department. CCA asked students, “for the love of the earth,” to present designs that symbolize the recycling process. The three prizes were tuition at colleges chosen by the students. CCA chose to have students submit the design, which would appear on the company’s recycled paperboard products, because, “as inheritors of the earth, they should have their say.” CCA at the time was the nation’s largest paper recycler, consuming 750,000 tons per year of secondary fiber. The more than 500 submittals that were received were evaluated by a distinguished panel of designers at the 1970 International Design Conference in Aspen, Colorado. In September 1970, CCA awarded the top prize of $2,500 to a senior at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles — Gary Anderson — who used the funds to continue his education in Sweden. The symbol was a three-chasing-arrows Mobius loop, with the arrows twisting and turning among themselves. (August Ferdinand Mobius, the nineteenth century mathematician, discovered that a strip of paper twisted once over and joined at the tips formed a continuous, single-edged, one-sided surface.) Because of the symbol’s simplicity and clarity, it became widely used worldwide, and now is as common as the Nike “swoosh” and the Coca-Cola lettering.

Into the public domain

At the same time, in the fall of 1970, CCA was working with other paper and paperboard producers to assess how their industry should best address the rising call for fiber recycling. Because CCA now had a new symbol, the company chose to license Gary Anderson’s design, refined and adapted for print-use by Bill Lloyd, to trade associations for a nominal fee. In September 1970, the symbol was accepted by the three principal paper industry groups, the Fibre Box Association, the Paperboard Packaging Council and the American Paper Institute. CCA applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for registration of the symbol as a trademark. But registration for the symbol — now becoming popular due to CCA’s promotion of it — was challenged. The corporation dropped its application rather than fight for the trademark, and the Anderson design fell into the public domain. Several years later, CCA designed two revisions of the three-arrow recycling logo.

The version with the arrows within a circle connoted recycled content (white arrows in a black circle meant 100 percent recycled content; black arrows in a white circle meant recycled content of a stated percentage). The second version had the recycling symbol as an outline, not enclosed in a circle. This connoted that an item was recyclable.

Personal growth followed

Designing the ubiquitous recycling logo is only one of Anderson’s many accomplishments, as shown by his varied career since graduating from USC in 1971 with a Master’s Degree in Urban Design. Gary presently is a senior associate and chief planner at STV Inc. (Baltimore), an engineering, architectural and planning firm. Previously, he was a senior planner with county government and a university medical center; headed the planning department of a Saudi Arabian university; and was a research fellow at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University, from which he received his Ph.D. in geography and environmental engineering in 1985. Gary remains environmentally concerned. For example, he is focusing on the issue of managed urban growth, and sits on the board of directors of 1,000 Friends of Maryland, a controlled-growth activist group.

His ideas are clear

Anderson obviously has carefully considered the effect of his work nearly three decades ago. In recent conversations and correspondence with Penny Jones, he offered many thoughtful remarks.

On the logo’s design: “The figure was designed as a Mobius strip to symbolize continuity within a finite entity. I used the [logo’s] arrows to give directionality to the symbol. I envisioned it with the small edge or the point of the triangle at the bottom. I wanted to suggest both the dynamic (things are changing) and the static (it’s a static equilibrium, a permanent kind of thing). The arrows, as broad as they are, draw back to the static side.”

On the design’s variants. “Originally, when I saw variations on it, that bothered me. I had submitted three designs which were variations on a theme, and the judges chose the plainest of the three. The design as modified by CCA is more static than the way I originally showed it. The proportions and the angles and the arcs are the same as in my original design, but Container made the linework sharper so that it would reproduce better. They also rotated it by about 60 degrees. What’s important to me now is that the symbol is general enough that it has been capable of being modified. The more variations made on it, the better it is.”

On the source of such symbols: “Karl Jung [says that a] symbol really is a reflection of a primeval form that’s in our collective consciousness.”

On his feelings about his product’s universal, worldwide use: “One thing is certain: It seems to belong to everybody — and that is fine with me. I entered the contest with the understanding that the winning entry would belong in the public domain. I’ve gotten used to seeing it. At first I felt very gratified and, I guess, proud and I was happy that I was able to come up with something which people could latch on to — happy, pleased, gratified to make a contribution — that’s pretty neat.”

Resource Recycling extends many thanks to Penny Jones, whose seven-year search for Gary Anderson made this article possible.

Arguably the best interview in the round. First-hand quotes by Anderson are given, along with background detail of the CCA-sponsored competition. The Möbius strip (although obvious) is stated as the source. This detail is not always given in other interviews. One minor gripe in the piece is that the umlauts are omitted from Möbius’s name.

2. Jennifer Kabat, 2008

It's Only Natural. Looking back to the forgotten origins of the recycling logo. 18 June 2008.

Planet Green, a new cable channel dedicated entirely to eco concerns, was launched in the US last week. We’ve certainly come a long way since the green movement’s origins some 38 years ago, back when the recycling logo was launched on the first ever ‘Earth Day’. 

To coincide with Earth Day 1970 (initially intended as a one-off event), Container Corporation of America sponsored a student competition to design a recycling logo. CCA was one of those liberal-minded corporate behemoths that no longer exist; they believed in good design and even sponsored the International Design Conference in Aspen. The corporation also happened to be the biggest manufacturer of recycled cardboard in the country.

‘For the love of the earth,’ as CCA president H. G. Van der Eb put it, the company asked for ‘a symbol that would remind concerned citizens that recycling or reuse of materials extends the life of our natural resources.’ The logo would go on packaging made from recycled materials to advertise that they were recycled – though it wasn’t intended to show people what might be recyclable, as happens today. The competition had few rules. The logo had to be reducible to two inches, and the winner would get US$2,500 with which to further his or her education as well as relinquish all rights to their design. CCA was forward-thinking enough to realize that a recycling logo would be of much use in the public domain.

Twenty-year-old Gary Anderson won the competition. Anderson wasn’t even a design student, though that’s not to say he wasn’t visually savvy – he studied architecture and planning at the University of Southern California, and says he entered the competition because it was something he could do on his own, not requiring an entire team as a building does.

The competition was judged at the 1970 Aspen Design Conference, the theme for which – ‘Environment By Design’ – attracted both designers and radicals, and, sometimes, radical designers. It was a moment of culture clash: people with long hair and bushy sideburns versus those still sporting short-back-and-sides. Design historian Alice Twemlow explains: ‘Ant Farm [a radical architecture collective] was there with busloads of Berkeley activists. The entire idea of a speaker on stage talking down to a passive audience was outmoded in the age of protests and teach-ins. So, you had Eliot Noyes and Saul Bass sitting down with these protestors who were talking about alienation, and poor Saul Bass was saying, ‘we just want to do a design conference here.’’

Anderson – a modest, softly-spoken architecture student – stumbled into the middle of this, and didn’t quite relate. ‘Around me all these people were talking about their conflict joining big companies and making logos that would further the military industrial complex,’ he recently remembered.

The logo’s press launch was held at CCA in September of the same year. There, one of the company’s designers bitterly told Anderson that they had only picked his logo because every other one had been so bad. Imagine saying that about a design that has since been printed, embossed and molded onto more things than anything else in history. Now Anderson himself talks about feeling distant from his design, almost divorced from it, as the logo has taken on a life of its own.

To create it, he combined a Möbius strip with M.C. Escher, who was increasingly popular at the time. But Anderson claimed that his design was also a reaction against the era’s discontent: ‘Angela Davis had just shot up the courthouse and the Manson murders had just happened. I wanted to move away from that, from the Haight-Ashbury poster art with its amorphous organic shapes to create something simpler and cleaner.’ He did just that with his circling arrows signifying interconnectedness. He also cites the recently launched wool trademark as an inspiration.

Anderson’s design has now been transformed and adopted in countless ways. ‘It’s been around so long, I’ve just gotten used to it like everyone has,’ he says in his understated way: ‘I like to see the variations in it. Some are smart and elegant and beautiful, the way they turn the design and you still recognize it.’

Unfortunately Planet Green’s logo, a large green dot, is not one of these designs. I doubt we’ll be talking about it in 40 years.

JENNIFER KABAT

Jennifer Kabat is a writer. She teaches at The New School, New York, USA, and on the MFA Art Writing programme, School of Visual Arts, New York.

DB. Very good. Again, gives a good background of the CCA role. Mentions the Möbius strip, Escher, and the Woolmark as influences.

3. Katie Engelhart, 2012

First Person: Gary Anderson ‘I designed the recycling symbol’. As told. May 12, 2012.

I studied engineering at the University of Southern California at a time when there was a lot of emphasis in the US on training young people to be engineers. It was in the years after Sputnik and the philosophy was that America was in danger of falling behind the Russians in the technical arena. That said, I eventually switched to architecture. I just couldn’t get a grasp on electronics. Architecture was more tangible.

I got my bachelor’s degree in 1971 and stayed on to do a master’s. It was around that time that I saw a poster advertising a design competition being run by the Container Corporation of America.

The version with the arrows within a circle connoted recycled content (white arrows in a black circle meant 100 percent recycled content; black arrows in a white circle meant recycled content of a stated percentage). The second version had the recycling symbol as an outline, not enclosed in a circle. This connoted that an item was recyclable. The idea was to create a symbol to represent recycled paper – one of my college requirements had been a graphic design course so I thought I’d give it a go.

It didn’t take me long to come up with my design: a day or two. I almost hate to admit that now. But I’d already done a presentation on recycling waste water and I’d come up with a graphic that described the flow of water: from reservoirs through to consumption, so I already had arrows and arcs and angles in my mind.

The problem with my earlier design was that it seemed flat, two-dimensional. When I sat down to enter the competition, I thought back to a field trip in elementary school to a newspaper office where we’d seen how paper was fed over rollers as it was printed. I drew on that image – the three arrows in my final sketch look like strips of folded-over paper. I drew them in pencil, and then traced over everything in black ink. These days, with computer graphics packages, it’s rare that designs are quite as stark.

I think I found out I won the competition in a letter. Was I excited? Well, yes of course – but not that excited. I guess at that point in life I had an inflated sense of self-importance. It just seemed like, of course I would win! There was a monetary prize, though for the life of me I can’t remember how much it was…about $2,000?

When I finished my studies, I decided I wanted to go into urban planning and I moved to LA. It seems funny, but I really played down the fact that I’d won this competition. I was afraid it would make me look like a graphics guy, rather than an urban designer. I didn’t even mention it on my résumé. Also, the symbol itself languished for a while. I remember seeing it once on a bank statement, but then it disappeared.

Six or seven years after graduating, I was living in Saudi Arabia. I’d got bored and responded on a lark to a teaching job I saw advertised in The New York Times. One summer, I flew to Amsterdam for a holiday. I’ll never forget: when I walked off the plane, I saw my symbol. It was on a big, igloo-shaped recycling bin. And it was bigger than a beach ball! I was really struck. I hadn’t thought about that symbol for years and here it was hitting me in the face.

That was a long time ago. Since then, I’ve received a PhD and worked for a few corporate firms. At the moment, I run the Baltimore branch of a small company that does work for the Department of Defense, which is odd because I was very anti-military when I was young.

With respect to the environmental movement, I’ll admit that most of my career has been more focused on paying the bills. But I got my green design certification; so while I’m not the world’s expert, I do my part. It can get frustrating though, in my work, to come up against environmental regulations. Don’t get me wrong; it’s good that we have them. But as my father used to say, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. When things get too codified, it stifles innovation.

I feel much closer to the recycling symbol now than I used to. Maybe this design is a bigger part of my life’s contribution than I had thought but still, I’d hate to think that my life’s work is defined by it. There’s more to me than the recycling symbol.

DB. Not an interview as such, but rather a statement by Anderson (or so it appears). No mention is made of the Möbius strip.

4. Stockholm University, 2021

50th year anniversary for the designer of the recycling symbol

Thanks to Gary Anderson designing the world-famous recycling symbol in 1971, the prize money enabled the American architect, planner and graphic designer to attend Stockholm University to study urban sociology and welfare economics. 50 years later, he remembers the Swedish people most of all, who he felt had an “innate, optimistic commitment to social and material progress”.

What and where did you study prior to your time in Stockholm?

I grew up in the Desert Southwest region of the United States, and I completed my bachelor’s degree in architecture at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. I went on to complete a master’s degree in urban design at the same School of Architecture. However, throughout my studies I took numerous courses that were outside my major. I especially was intrigued with sociology and the social sciences, and how human interaction can shape and be shaped by the environment.

What did you study at Stockholm University?

At the time, SU offered a one-year graduate programme leading to a "diplom" in social science. The program was offered through the International Graduate School (IGS), which was a division of the Institute for English Speaking Students. In 1971, the year that I was completing my master’s degree at USC, I entered a competition to design a recycling symbol. I took first place in the competition and was awarded a prize of $2,000 – an amount that could be worth about 140,000 SEK in today’s currency. There was a stipulation, however, that the funds were to be used to further my education. After doing a little research, I found the SU programme, applied to it, and was admitted. I specifically had researched programmes in countries where I had roots, and which offered a curriculum in English. The foreign language that I had studied in school was Spanish, which is directly not part of my heritage.

The courses that I took at the IGS included urban sociology and welfare economics, as well as intensive instruction in the Swedish language. My thesis – a group effort by a team of half a dozen diplom candidates – was a study of the Östermalm district of Stockholm and the social impacts that a reconfigured street network might have there. As I recall, it was selected as the best thesis in the programme for 1972.

What do you remember most from your time in Sweden?

The answer to this question could constitute an entire novel! But I think most of all, I remember the Swedish people – at least those whom I met in academia. They seemed to share a sense of "we are all in this together", and I felt that they had an innate, optimistic commitment to social and material progress. Martin Luther King said that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice, and I felt that Swedes not only understand this, but that they believe that as individuals they each have a hand in bending that arc. Even when they weren’t in complete agreement, they seemed to think that taking a step toward some sort of progress was something that they could all participate in. I also got the sense that they believed that even though not every step might be in the right direction, neither is it final. Society as a whole can step back, recalibrate, adjust direction, and get back to the trace of the arc.

It was 50 years ago that I formed these impressions. Certainly things may have changed since then. Perhaps as in other countries social discourse is no longer as civil as it once was. But I think what I experienced was something fundamental, something that’s not likely to disappear altogether.

In what way did the time at Stockholm University year affect you, personally or professionally?

My time at SU was beneficial to me professionally, and also helped me to advance my career. Because of my interest in the intersection of social and behavioural science and the built environment, the credentials that the "diplom" accorded me allowed me to apply for and accept positions that I might not have been qualified for if I had only a degree in architecture. These positions encompassed much of my work in the public sector – working for local and federal government – and in academics, positions at The Johns Hopkins University and at King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia.

What did you do after your time at the International Graduate School?

After my time at IGS (and after working in the "Kungliga Postkontoret" on Djurgården the following summer), I returned to California and worked in an architectural firm – David J Flood and Associates, whose focus was the planning and design of destination resorts. From there, I went on to hold several positions related to planning, eventually returning to school to earn a PhD from the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Then I returned to professional consulting work, while keeping a hand in academics. My final professional position before retiring was at the Defense Health Agency, a federal agency responsible for the planning, design, and operation of hospitals worldwide.

What about the recycling symbol – did you realise your design would make such a great impact?

I had no idea that the symbol would be around for so long or that it would be used and recognised internationally. It was not used extensively for several years after it was chosen. I was teaching in Saudi Arabia for several years afterwards, and it was on my way back to the USA for summer vacation that I first realised the symbol really did have a life of its own. I stayed for a few days with a friend in Amsterdam, and one day while taking a stroll, I was confronted with the symbol reproduced at the scale of a beach ball on the side of a neighbourhood recycling bin.

What is your connection to Sweden nowadays?

I’ve always been interested in genealogy. Since retiring, I’ve been able to spend more time researching my roots. Although my ancestors came from Denmark, Germany, France and England, as well as Sweden, it’s my Swedish ancestors who are of most interest to me, but also the most challenging to trace – not least of all because of the Scandinavian patronymic system. However, I have discovered a fourth cousin in Stockholm and a fourth cousin on the West Coast of Sweden. I’ll be visiting Sweden this summer, and I’m looking forward to meeting them!

DB. Although the interview is largely Stockholm oriented, for obvious reasons, there are occasion mentions of the recycling symbol. No mention is made of the Möbius strip as underpinning the design.

5. Andrew Travers, 2024

‘The recycling symbol’s Aspen roots’

College student Gary Anderson’s iconic ‘chasing arrows’ logo was selected at 1970 International Design Conference at Aspen

As a shy and bearded young architecture student at the University of Southern California in the spring of 1970, Gary Anderson happened upon a flyer advertising a graphic-design contest. It called for students to create a symbol to promote the recycling of paper products, with a winner to be selected at that summer’s International Design Conference at Aspen.

The winning black-ink icon that Anderson created featured a series of folded arrows chasing one another in a triangle. It would become one of the most recognizable icons in the world.

“I had an idea of what I wanted to do and worked on it for a day or two,” recalled Anderson, now 76, who is returning to Aspen for the first time to discuss his symbol and its complicated legacy. The event, at the Pitkin County Library on March 18, will be hosted by the Aspen Institute’s Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies (Bayer Center).

The idea 

Anderson was an architecture student, but the contest specs seemed simple enough for the 22-year-old to handle on his own at a drafting desk: It called for a black-and-white design that could be reduced to 2 inches and stamped on products. And its ethos was in line with his budding environmental concerns, informed by youth movements on campus, the phenomenon of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” the advent of the first Earth Day and the national green push that would soon lead to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

The national contest, which drew more than 500 submissions from high school and college students, was sponsored by the Container Corp. of America, the Paepcke family business based in Chicago, profits from which had funded the birth of modern Aspen in the 1940s as a ski resort and would-be utopia and backed institutions such as the Aspen Music Festival, Aspen Institute and International Design Conference at Aspen.

“We asked them, ‘for the love of Earth,’ to design a symbol that would remind concerned citizens that recycling or reuse of materials extends the life of our natural resources — a symbol that could be placed upon packages we make from recyclable or recycled fibers, to promote public awareness that recycling provides an opportunity to improve environmental quality,” read a September 1970 Container Corp. of America announcement detailing Anderson’s win and the company’s plans for the symbol.

Under the leadership of Walter Paepcke, the Container Corp. of America had spearheaded recycling efforts decades earlier. By the mid-1940s, most of the company’s cardboard boxes were made with recycled paper material. Paepcke had also promoted recycling with innovative modernist advertising campaigns during World War II, in ads designed by Bauhaus artist and Aspen resident Herbert Bayer.

Paepcke and Bayer in the postwar years launched initiatives at Container Corp. of America comprising what today would be called a corporate sustainability mission, promoting Earth-friendly public policy, conservation, sustainable and equitable distribution of natural resources. The Container Corp. of America claimed to be the largest user of recycled paper in the United States in 1970, collecting more than 1 million tons of waste paper — or 10% of the industry total at the time — to make recycled products.

Paepcke died in 1960, but the company’s environmental mission and its inextricable ties to Aspen remained.

The recycling symbol contest was judged by an eight-person panel of leading designers including Bayer and giants such as film industry innovator Saul Bass and IBM design director Eliot Noyes, who was also chair of the design conference. The contest winner would receive a $2,500 tuition grant and a trip to the conference.

Anderson drew on personal and artistic influences for his symbol. He knew he wanted to include a triangle with Mobius strip-inspired folding corners and arrows connecting its segments. As a schoolboy, he had gone on a field trip to a newspaper printing press and watched reams of paper running through rollers — he wanted to capture that movement in his symbol, which led him to incorporate the arrows. He made several versions, each iteration growing simpler than the last. He submitted three versions for the contest. The one with the least ornamentation, inked in black over his pencil sketches, and instantly recognizable today, was selected by Bayer and the panel as the winner.

Anderson wasn’t acquainted with the history of the conference, Paepcke or Bayer at the time.

“I just submitted my design, I got the award, and that was it,” Anderson recalled. “Over the years, I’ve come to know more about Herbert Bayer and the graphic designers who were on jury.”

The Container Corp. of America placed the symbol in the public domain in the hopes that it would be used widely to mark products made from recycled and recyclable paper products, making the symbol available in the fall of 1970 to all industries that recycle their products. 

“Many government officials, industry leaders, conservationists and ecologists believe that recycling is the ultimate answer to solid-waste problems,” reads the Container Corp. of America announcement. “Display of the new symbol on packages and other items of recycled and recyclable fibers should spread awareness among concerned citizens that waste paper recycling is an important and effective method of conservation.”

The young Anderson drove his Volkswaagen camper to Aspen for the design conference, which by then had been running annually in Aspen since 1951 and was well established as a premier global convening of designers, artists and architects.

“It was consciousness-expanding to be among all of those designers and just listening to what some of them had to say about the issues of design in the world at that time,” Anderson recalled.

The 1970 conference, whose theme was “Environment By Design,” attempted to harness the interest and intensity of the burgeoning environmental movement in its proceedings and in the recycle symbol contest. But it hosted clashes pitting design students and activists against the design establishment. Although the recycle-symbol contest judging took place at the 1970 conference, Anderson is unsure whether his attendance was that year or the following, after the symbol was in use.

The contest itself was an overt attempt by Container Corp. of America and the conference to provide a platform to the ascendant baby boomers. As they put it in the announcement: “We could have designed this symbol ourselves, but we felt that the younger generation, as inheritors of the earth, should have their say.”

Design historian Alice Twemlow, in a detailed account of the culture clashes at the 1970 conference collected in the book “Aspen Complex,” wrote that it “provided the setting for an ideological collision between members of the American liberal design establishment who organized the conference and an assortment of environmentalists, design and architecture students, and a French delegation from the context of the Utopie group, who were all frustrated with what they saw as the conference’s lack of political engagement. Aspen 1970 also provided the setting for a critique of the formats, modes of address and registers through which design discourse was advanced.”

Anderson recalled one memorable session where a young participant, knitting and talking at once in a seminar discussion, excoriated older designers for being tools of capitalism.

‘Separate ways’

Anderson used his prize money to study abroad in Sweden and begin work on his graduate studies in architecture. His symbol was not widely adopted initially. Anderson recalled that the first time he saw the symbol in public was years later, when he spotted it on recycling bins in Amsterdam in the late 1970s.

But as residential and commercial recycling efforts boomed in the 1980s and 1990s, the symbol became ubiquitous.

Anderson went on to a career in urban planning and architecture, never pursuing graphic design and thinking little of his recycling symbol. The creator of one of the world’s most recognizable designs, in fact, didn’t even put it on his resume.

“The symbol and I went our separate ways for a while,” Anderson said. “Even after it became a widely recognized symbol, I played it down because my career, as far as I was concerned, was in architecture and planning. On my resume, I didn’t even mention it because I didn’t want it to detract from my accomplishments in architecture.”

Although the contest win in 1970 shined a brief spotlight on Anderson, he fell into design anonymity thereafter. His work in architecture and planning won him awards and took him to professional posts in California, Europe, Saudi Arabia and Maryland, where he is now retired. His authorship of the recycle symbol, as it became adopted around the globe in the decades that followed, was anonymous.

That changed in the late 1990s when a recycling education specialist in Morris County, New Jersey, named Penny Jones took on the project of celebrating the symbol’s creator. She identified Anderson, found him in Maryland and told his story in the May 1999 trade publication Resource Recycling. (Underscoring the symbol creator’s mythical status among recycling gurus, the article, written with journalist Jerry Powell, was headlined triumphantly: “Gary Anderson Has Been Found!”)

“It was only after that that people started to get in touch with me,” Anderson said.

He has embraced his place in design history since then, discussing his recycle symbol when asked. He never dabbled in graphic design again, though.

“I’m a one-hit wonder when it comes to graphics,” he said.

DB. Another of the best interviews. Mentions the Möbius strip underpinning the design.

6. Che Malik. Date unclear

This issue celebrates the solution-makers we can learn from and be inspired by. Like the Super Heroes from our myths - these real life action heroes exhibit strength, bravery, courage, and the magical ability to find a path when all the roads seem blocked.

Recycle Man

In 1970 Gary Anderson, a USC Graduate student entered and won a design contest sponsored by CCA – Container Corporation of America. The competition was to design a graphic symbol which would be used on recycled paper products and which could recognize a commitment to environmental sensitivity on the part of any manufacturer who was engaged in recycling. The winning symbol would be given over to the public domain. The competition was also to honor the first – Earth Day – which was held that same year.
Gary’s simple but thoughtful design would go on to become the most iconic symbol of environmental action ever created. The symbol has circled the globe, evokes thought and action, it has no language barrier and never uses a single word. Thankfully for us when I met with Gary Anderson he had plenty to say. Since winning the contest in 1970 Gary has traveled the world pursuing his dreams in the field of Architecture and Planning. He currently lives in Baltimore, MD. I spoke with Gary by phone and very quickly it struck me that his accomplishments combined with his humble nature bared a striking resemblance to the fictional Superheroes that permeate our culture. Gary and I went on to discuss the concept of “Superheroes” and how they might play a role in saving the environment.

C. Malik: Mr. Anderson – do you think you’ve saved the world? 



Gary Anderson: “I’d like to think I’ve had some impact; it wasn’t really that I consciously tried to do that but I think the symbol really has just by virtue of the fact that it kind of took off and people have come to really recognize it and understand recycling when they see it…you know, I think it has had a pretty big impact.”

CM: Are you a millionaire?

GA: Extended chuckle. Don’t I wish. No, No, No

CM: Why did you create the recycling symbol?

GA: Well it wasn’t for the money. It was more just kind of a challenge to me a challenge to myself. There was a poster that showed up in my school, the school of architecture and fine arts at USC, advertising this competition. Of course there was no entry fee and it seemed like something I could enter and that wouldn’t take much of anything in the way of resources other than myself some paper and drawing tools I already had. Unlike a big architectural project or something that would probably require input from lots of people, this is something that I could do on my own and seemed like something I could do. I could also support the reason behind the contest, I thought that was commendable so I spent a couple of days on it, came up with the symbol and submitted it.

CM: We talked briefly in our intro about “superheroes” and the expectation related to their symbols. When people see the recycle symbol what do you think that invokes in them, what does it mean to them? 



GA: Hopefully recycling, I mean, beyond that people might have different reactions to it. But I think it has come to mean recycling in a lot of people’s minds, which is great, because that’s why they had the competition and that’s what I tried to do when I designed it, so hopefully that’s what people think of.

CM: Who is your favorite superhero and why?



GA: When I was a kid, which is getting longer and longer ago now the main superhero was Superman. I guess there where others around, there was the Phantom, I guess Batman was around already. Superman in my mind was it, he was the one I knew the most about and you know the one that had the highest profile certainly…so just to make the answer short; Superman.

CM: It’s interesting that you pick Superman and mention that the lack of clutter in the Superhero “space” at that time really made Superman stand out. With your symbol there seems to be little competition, would you agree?



GA: Especially when it first came out there really wasn’t, as far as I know there may have been others but that was the only symbol I was aware of for recycling. Frankly, I don’t want to be overly modest but I think just the fact that it was the first one, the first one to get some publicity because it was a competition held by a private company who invested in getting the image out there. I think those two things the fact that it was the first and did get publicity early on I’m sure that helped to establish it as the symbol.

CM: How has the wide adoption of the recycling symbol changed your life?



GA: Not so much. From time to time I get interview requests like this one and sometimes I get invited to functions. I am in fact going up to NJ next week they passed some legislation that mandated recycling in certain areas 25 years ago and so I’ve been invited to the celebration, the 25th anniversary for the NJ recycling program. Aside from things like that not too much, not too long after I won the competition I went overseas to teach so I was kind of out of touch.

CM: Recently you were involved in judging a symbol contest for a company called Cereplast can you expand on the work they are doing?



GA: I think it’s remarkable what they are doing, I don’t think they are the only company that does that, but I think certainly compostable biodegradable plastics are very important in maintaining environmental quality and not polluting the environment with petroleum based products. It’s just fascinating the kinds of products that can be created with bio-plastics and that they seem just as versatile as anything that can be made with petroleum based plastics – so I think it’s wonderful.

CM: What do you think is the most underserved environmental issue today?

GA: Because of what I do and my background I really think there could be much more emphasis and understanding about sustainable planning and urban development. I think it’s just so easy to sprawl, it’s so easy the way things are set up now, the way policy is written the way it is so easy to expand infrastructure. There are plenty of incentives to just build further out and there are no disincentives to keep from doing that or incentives to keep things more compact. I guess eventually it will happen, I will be happy when the public starts to demand more sustainable patterns of development as they do now with more sustainable consumer products.

CM: Who are your environmental heroes, past and present?

GA: Well I have to say they go way back as probably again to the late 60’s early 70’s when I first started be aware of these things myself. So they are really kind of historic now but certainly Ian McHarg who was a landscape architect and planner who wrote the book “Design with Nature” and influenced a lot of people in my generation about sustainability before it had that name. Rachel Carson. She really brought to the attention of the general public what some of the really dire problems could be if we didn’t start to look more carefully or consider more carefully what we’re doing to the environment. Also Bucky Fuller (Buckminster Fuller). Those are the three that come to mind. People should Google them if they don’t know about these people.

CM: If you could create your own Superhero what would it be and what super powers would they have?

GA: I guess it would be “Recycle Man” with the recycling logo on his jersey, whatever that is that superheroes wear or tattooed to his chest or something I don’t know. He would, or she, maybe it’s “recycle lady” or “recycle woman” would fight wasteful practices and nurture an appreciation of sustainability.

DB. The interview is a bit weird in places, with Malik having an obsession on superheroes! 

It should be noted that the text is in two outlets, in print and online. Both are not easily researched, as dates are not given.

7. Brian Balogh, and Peter Onuf 

No date is given, but is somewhere between 2008-2020.

‘Round and Round We Go’. Hosts Brian Balogh and Peter Onuf call up Gary Anderson, who designed the iconic recycling symbol back when he was in college.

A two-host interview. For a more concise text, I have combined the hosts’ text; in the original they are distinct.

RR: Now when we heard Bart mention the recycling logo, it got us wondering where that logo came from. So we did some digging, and here’s what we found. The symbol was designed by a college student at the University of Southern California. Gary Anderson was at USC in 1970 when he saw a poster announcing a design contest for a recycling symbol. The competition was sponsored by, you guessed it, a big manufacturer. Not a manufacturer of soda, but one that produced cardboard products. It was called the Container Corporation of America. The contest was open only to high school and college kids. As the company put it, “the inheritors of the earth.” Anderson submitted three designs, one of which took the grand prize of some $2,000. His design is the one you still see everywhere – three flat arrows each with a sharp turn in the middle forming sort of an infinite loop of environmental responsibility. We gave Anderson a call and he told us he was inspired by the idea of the Mobius [sic] strip, that continuous one sided surface you get when you twist a strip of paper and join both ends together. He said it had fascinated him since childhood.

GARY ANDERSON: When I was still in grade school, I read this little book of scientific rhymes or limericks, and they were all very clever. And one of them was, “Hickory dockery dick, a mouse on a Mobius strip. The strip revolved, the mouse dissolved in a chronodimensional skip.” And for some reason that–

RR: Wow! [LAUGHS] That stuck!

GARY ANDERSON: Little poem just stuck with me. And the more I learned about it, the more I was fascinated by this idea of a strip with an infinite dimension.

RR: Gary, designing a logo is about the coolest thing you could possibly do in the modern world of brands.

GARY ANDERSON: [LAUGHS]

RR: Were you a glamorous character? Did you brag about this logo? Yeah, did people say hey, that’s that guy who did the recycling logo? Whoa!

GARY ANDERSON: They do that more now than they did back then.

RR: [LAUGHS] Well, why is that?

GARY ANDERSON: Well for one reason, it wasn’t widely used right after the competition ended.

RR: Oh.

GARY ANDERSON: I guess there were a couple reasons for that. One was although I recall that on that poster that I responded to it said that the symbol would be turned over to the public domain, the company actually charged a very small fee to use the symbol.

RR: Oh. Did you get a percentage of that? Yeah. Royalties, right?

GARY ANDERSON: [LAUGHS] No, no.

RR: No.

GARY ANDERSON: That was the one rule on the poster that I do know was followed.

RR: [LAUGHS]: So you gave up your rights, but they didn’t give up their rights.

GARY ANDERSON: Apparently not. I’m really not very clear on this, because I was over in Saudi Arabia for a number of years teaching. And I guess a lot happened during that time.

RR: And what year are we now?

GARY ANDERSON: I think this must have been in the late ’70s or very early ’80s.

RR: Well, so you came back from your Rip Van Winkle phase of life. [LAUGHS]

GARY ANDERSON: Right. Right.

RR: And discovered that you were a star.

GARY ANDERSON: Yeah. Coming back from Saudi Arabia, I stopped in Amsterdam for a week or so. And I came across these big igloo shaped recycling bins. Really large. I mean, they were taller than I was and brightly colored, and with the logo, my logo on it.

RR: Whoa.

GARY ANDERSON: About the size of a beach ball.

RR: So Gary, when you designed this logo, the idea of infinity, of capturing everything, recycling it, and a perpetual motion planet would go on forever. Beautiful idea. Does it seem plausible to you now?

GARY ANDERSON: [LAUGHS] It’s a tough question. I’m sure I’m more cynical in some ways than I was back then too.

RR: Yeah.

GARY ANDERSON: Although I was not a totally naive young person.

RR: Right.

GARY ANDERSON: I guess people don’t like to say they’re proud of things anymore. They say that they’re humbled. And I don’t know what that means.

RR: [LAUGHS]

GARY ANDERSON: When you’ve accomplished something, to say that you’re humbled. But I am. I’m proud and I’m gratified. I think people are very much aware of the environment and ecology. And I would like to think that the symbol has helped to remind people frequently that those concerns are out there.

RR: Hey Gary, great fun. Thanks for joining us. Thanks so much, Gary.
GARY ANDERSON: Well, it’s been my pleasure. Thank you all.
RR: Gary Anderson is an architect and planner in northern Virginia, and the recycling symbol he created is being featured right now at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. It’s part of an exhibit called, “This is For Everyone: Design Experiments for the Common Good.”

[MUSIC – THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS, “TAKE OUT THE TRASH”]

DB. A somewhat lightweight, ‘fun’ interview (from the audio). Nothing is stated that is not already known.

CHRONOLOGY OF EARLIEST REPRESENTATIONS OF THE RECYCLING SYMBOL (ILLUSTRATIONS)

Of interest is the earliest pictorial representations (illustrations) of the recycling symbol and the time frame (omitting Anderson’s sketch and photo with Hans Beuhler). For the remit, I arbitrarily select its earliest possible installation, 1970, up to and including 1980, which is a sufficient time span to give a broad indication of its introduction. Open questions abound. Was it immediately popular, taking off immediately, or was there a more steady interest, or something in-between? How was the symbol rendered in publications?

Noteworthy is the paucity of pictorial representation of the ‘early days’; there are only six instances in ten years! Such paucity thus indicates a generally poor initial pick-up and interest. In regards of the establishment, I also examined text entries (some were in tandem with the pictorial symbol). Prima facie, one may exact more references than pictorial, perhaps many more, may be even in the hundreds or indeed thousands. However, this is not so! On the Internet Archive, for the remit of 1970–1980 as of this writing (14 January 2025) there are 68 references, but only about 15 are bona fide. An exact figure would take too long to establish than I would care to determine (easily a morning’s work, if not more); many of the references repeat, and some, admittedly few, refer to other recycling symbols! Further, what commentary there is is typically brief, of a caption or a single line. One can only conclude that the adoption was slow.

Note that I differentiate between the different orientations, as according to Anderson’s and CCA’s preferred choices, as well as the type of Möbius strip it is based on, either a half-twist model three-half twist).

1970? Paperboard Packaging. Volume 55, Issues 7-12. 1970, p. 67.

A possibility of an illustration but far from certain. See Paperboard Packaging in the references for more details of the difficulties involved in determining the matter. 

1971. Barbara Plumb. ‘Design for the Times’. The Plumb Line. News from an architecture and environment editor’s newsdesk. American Home, March 1971. p. 50. 

CCA orientation. Half-twist model (and not the three-half twist).

1971. Greg Cailliet, Paulette Setzer, Milton Love. Everyman's Guide to Ecological Living. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1971, p. 33.

CCA orientation (broadly). Half-twist model (and not the three-half twist).

1971. Ronald H. Walker. (ed). Iowa Architect. April/May/June 1971, p. 24.

Anderson orientation. Half-twist model (and not the three-half twist).

1972. John Robert Lindbeck. Designing. today's manufactured products. Bloomington, Ill., McKnight & McKnight Pub. Co., Second edition 1972, pp. 3–4.

CCA orientation.Half-twist model (and not the three-half twist).

1973. Montana Outdoors. Vol. 4, No. 1 January/February 1973, p. 37.

CCA orientation (broadly). Half-twist model (and not the three-half twist). This borrows form the Cailliet et al drawing.

1975. The Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office: Trademarks. 1975 Again, the rendering is very poor. In CCA orientation. Three Half-twist model (and not the one-half twist). 

Summary

I do have to say that it’s a design classic, and I’m not alone. Mark Wilson at FastCoDesign deems it "a design classic that ranks with the Coca-Cola and Nike marks, for sheer ubiquity." In more recent times, other designers have tried their hand at improvements (for example see Josh Baines), but none have the elegance of Anderson's design.

References

The intention here is to be thorough as to matters of inclusion, albeit not to the point of ridiculousness by including ‘everything’ seen, no matter how minor. This would be simply impractical. Rather, I have used my best judgement as to what to include and exclude. Some references, although essentially worthless (or trivial, or trite) have nontheless been included, Having looked at them, sometimes downloaded, I may as well document, if only not to return at a later date having forgotten. These instances are generally denoted (disparagingly) as ‘seen and noted’. Further, unlike most references, of bare bibliography detail, I also ‘discuss’ aspects thereof, and so thus forms part of the study in general in an informal sense. Originally, I was going to have a pared back references, as in a ‘normal’ bibliographic listing, without clippings, commentary etc, but I changed my mind.

Each reference broadly follows the same style, with basic bibliographic detail, a clipping of the first few lines to give an indication of the text, some brief commentary of my own, and a link to the article if available. Some more details are sometimes given as to the publication and author, but this is largely at whim. Links are given to the publication where available. Finally, for my own reference, I add whether I have printed or not. In general when printed, these are of some substance and act as ‘marker’. Although ideally I would print ‘all’ here, not all justify the time and adminstration in filing thereof. Although it may seem an inconsequential addition, this would only serve to bloat my already substantial holdings, and so on occasion some are deemed unnecessary. Further I do not necessarily print all even of an ‘approved’ article; sometimes a single page is deemed sufficient to give a general indication.

All references have been added to the main bibliography.

Anon. Birmingham Daily Post, Monday 12 September, 1977, p. 9.

The first known recorded pictorial representation of the recycling symbol, and indeed of any kind of associated text in the UK, as late as 1977. As an side, the report is somewhat of an outlier, with the next account in 1989.

Baines, Josh. ‘A few lines, one world: Gary Anderson and the Universal Recycling Symbol’. It’s Nice That (website). 10 July, 2019. 

22 April 1970 gave us Earth Day, the now annual event that fights for a greener, cleaner planet for all.

Founded by the improbably named environmental activist Gaylord Nelson, it was a direct response to a gigantic oil spill, which had seen an estimated 100,000 barrels of crude oil soak the shores of Santa Barbara, California, the previous year.

Aware of the increasing mobilisation of the US’s ever-growing student population as agents for change, Nelson knew that if he could get them on board with his (for the time) radical views on pollution and the importance of finding environmentally friendly solutions to emerging ecological problems, the nation’s politicians and policy makers would have to pay attention. In theory, at least…

Amid a general discussion, a part recycling (excuse the pun!) of quotes from Anderson’s Financial Times interview with Katie Engelhart, although there is nothing really original here. Baines also shows alternate logos of a recent competition by Two Degrees Creative agency.. 

About. It’s Nice That was founded in 2007 in response to a university brief to “put something into the public domain that makes people feel better about themselves”. Right from the start, we were built by creatives, for creatives. Since then, It’s Nice That has grown to become one of the leading platforms globally for the creative community, encompassing an award-winning website, a range of social channels, a regular live events series called Nicer Tuesdays, and a top-ranking podcast…

Bio. No detail on Baines is readily available.

https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/response-and-responsibility-gary-anderson-two-degrees-graphic-design-100719

Balogh, Brian and Peter Onuf. ‘Round and Round We Go’. 5.27. No date is given, but is somewhere between 2008-2020.

Hosts Brian Balogh and Peter Onuf call up Gary Anderson, who designed the iconic recycling symbol back when he was in college.

For some unclear reason, the interview is not listed in the archive (where dates are given).

About

BackStory was an innovative public radio program and podcast produced from 2008-2020. On each episode of the show, historian-hosts Ed Ayers, Brian Balogh, and Peter Onuf (and in the show’s later years, Joanne Freeman and Nathan Connolly) picked a topic from the news and explored its roots through the American past. The program, which featured interviews, free-wheeling conversation, and narrative storytelling, was produced by Virginia Humanities. This archive includes episodes and transcripts from BackStory’s entire 12-year run.

I show a transcript in the interview section.

https://backstory.newamericanhistory.org/episodes/another-mans-treasure/7/

Bhasin, Kim. ‘This 23-Year-Old USC Student Created One Of The Most Recognizable Logos Of All Time’. Business Insider, 9 July, 2012.

The iconic recycling logo has become an internationally recognized standard. When you see the three arrows, you know exactly what it means. Mark Wilson at FastCoDesign deems it "a design classic that ranks with the Coca-Cola and Nike marks, for sheer ubiquity."

Gary Anderson, the man who designed the logo, recently wrote an retrospective in the Financial Times about how it all went down.

He was 23 years old when he entered a design competition held in 1970 by the Container Corporation of America which asked contestants to create a symbol for recycled paper.

Anderson wasn't even a graphic designer — he was studying engineering at USC.

"It didn’t take me long to come up with my design: a day or two. I almost hate to admit that now," writes Anderson.

"But I’d already done a presentation on recycling waste water and I’d come up with a graphic that described the flow of water: from reservoirs through to consumption, so I already had arrows and arcs and angles in my mind."

He won, and took home around $2,000. Anderson doesn't even remember the exact number. The winning symbol was given to the public domain, and that was it. 

Anderson's impact finally hit him years later on a trip to Amsterdam.

"I’ll never forget: when I walked off the plane, I saw my symbol," writes Anderson. "It was on a big, igloo-shaped recycling bin. And it was bigger than a beach ball! I was really struck. I hadn’t thought about that symbol for years and here it was hitting me in the face."

Now, his logo is everywhere.

Publication. Business Insider tells the global tech, finance, stock market, media, economy, lifestyle, real estate, AI and innovative stories you want to know. Business Insider

Bio. Kim is the retail editor at Business Insider, covering big box, apparel, e-commerce and restaurants. Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/gary-anderson-the-man-who-created-the-recycling-logo-2012-7

The text appears to be based solely on the contemporary Financial Times interview (and which explains the somewhat unlikely outlet) and so does not materially advance the study.

Cailliet, Greg, Paulette Setzer, Milton Love. Everyman's Guide to Ecological Living. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1971, p. 33.

Recycling symbol designed by Gary Anderson for a contest sponsored by The Container Corporation of America.

A brief illustrated entry, albeit significant on account of its history; the joint equal first, 1971.

Publication. This is a manual for people who want to adapt their own lifestyles so as to be less a part of the environmental deterioration and more a part of the solution. People, who are the greatest wasters of all, are going to have to consider lifestyles that are compatible with the earth's capabilities to sustain natural life. Goodreads

Bio 1. Gregor Michel Cailliet is an American scientist who studies the ecology of marine fishes. He is professor emeritus at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. Wikipedia

Bio 2. Dr. Milton Love is a research biologist at the Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara. Wikipedia

Bio 3. No information on Paulette Setzer is readily available.

https://archive.org/details/everymansguideto0000milt/page/32/mode/2up?q=%22gary+anderson%22 Limited preview.

Container Corporation of America. Wikipeda page (28 March 2024)

Container Corporation of America (CCA) was founded in 1926 and manufactured corrugated boxes… Under the leadership of Walter Paepcke, CCA was a patron of graphic arts and design…In the spring of 1970, CCA sponsored a contest to design a symbol to promote the recycling of paper products. The contest, which drew more than 500 submissions, was won by Gary Anderson, whose entry was the image now known as the universal recycling symbol… Wikipedia

Gives the basics on CCA without bloat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container_Corporation_of_America

Dunaway, Finis. ‘The Recycling Logo and the Aesthetics of Environmental Hope’. In Seeing Green, University of Chicago Press, 2015, Chapter 6, The Recycling Logo, pp. 96–106.

Google Books has a limited preview, but fortunately has most of the desired chapter!

A nice scholarly piece, albeit a bit wordy, within the context of social science and ecology, and is slow to start, with the first mention of the recycling symbol the third page in! Has quotations from Anderson. Reference is made to the Möbius strip, and illustrated with Escher’s two themed prints.

Book. Seeing Green is a book that explores the relationship between visual images and American environmentalism. The book examines a wide range of media sources and images, including advertisements, movies, cartoons, comic books, and photo-essays. Dunaway's analysis contextualizes these images within larger discussions about environmental citizenship, public life, affect, and the limits of visual democracy. AI Overview

Bio. Finis Dunaway is associate professor of history at Trent University, where he teaches courses in US history, visual culture, and environmental studies. He is the author of Natural Visions: The Power of Images in American Environmental Reform, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Seeing_Green/okGNBgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=finis+dunaway&printsec=frontcover (Extensive preview)

https://academic.oup.com/chicago-scholarship-online/book/17329/chapter-abstract/174781160?redirectedFrom=fulltext (Paywalled)

Dyer, John C. ‘The History of the Recycling Symbol. How Gary Anderson Designed the Recycling Symbol’. Not dated.

As you celebrate America Recycles Day each year in November, and Earth Day in April, look around and notice how many times you see the recycling symbol displayed. With its twisting arrows design, this symbol is recognized worldwide as the designation for recycled and recyclable materials. It easily has the recognition factor of Coca-Cola, Nike, and McDonald's, but do you have any idea where it

came from, or who actually designed it?

Because the recycling symbol is so familiar and ubiquitous, we tend to take it for granted, not realizing that it was designed by a real live, honest-to-goodness person who, even today, is still concerned with the environment.

Here's the little-known story behind the recycling symbol:...

A nice considered historical piece, containing new detail not given elsewhere! In particular, more detail detail is given on the CCA competition not seen elsewhere, with the second and third prize winners named, Mike Norcia (New York) and Janet McElmurry (University of Georgia). Twenty awards of excellence were also awarded (no names given). Also, Dyer states that there is only one surviving sketch (as I have suspected). 

The page is not dated and would appear to be ‘early’ 2000 in appearance. However, on Dyer’s (bare bones) LinkedIn page states his education at NKU (Northern Kentucky University) is given as 2020–2024. This appears to be a legacy page; the pictures no longer show. He appears to have been in contact with Anderson, with (at the end) All photos courtesy of Gary D. Anderson, and used by permission, although stops short as describing his piece as an interview. He also mentions the Woolmark symbol as a possible influence. Who exactly is J. C. Dyer is not made clear as is the date of the piece.

Of the second and third contestants, it appear both are no longer alive.

Bio 1 [Possibly] Michael Norcia, an award-winning photographer with the New York Post for the past 25 years and a Village resident for most of his life, died May 19 at his home in Weehawken, N.J., where he lived for the past 10 years. He was 59. 6 June 2006

https://www.amny.com/news/michael-norcia-59-covered-grenada-shah-elvis/

Bio 2. Janet was born in Augusta, GA. She graduated from North Augusta High School and the University of Georgia. She retired as the Editor of Fort Gordon's Signal …

Ms. Janet Areda McElmurray, (1949–2024), 74, of Beech Island, SC, entered into rest on Thursday, February, 22, 2024… Janet was born in Augusta, GA. She graduated from North Augusta High School and the University of Georgia. She retired as the Editor of Fort Gordon’s Signal News. Janet was a talented artist and brilliant photographer. She was previously a member of the Augusta Choral Society and she was a huge fan of the Beatles. Janet was a competitive runner, scuba diver, and she enjoyed traveling.

https://www.hatcherfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Ms-Janet-McElmurray?obId=30928243

https://www.nku.edu/~longa/classes/mat115/days/resources/docs/recycling_symbol.html

https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-jc-dyer-949370294/

Crespo, Yaima. ‘The story behind the recycling symbol’. NBC Television interview. November 13, 2023. 2.13

NBC6’s Yaima Crespo spoke with Gary Anderson, the man who created the iconic recycling symbol.

Bio. Bilingual Consumer Reporter & Producer. End-to-End Content Creator LinkedIn

The first of two short videos by Crespo. A Möbius strip is mentioned. No transcript is available.

https://www.nbcmiami.com/on-air/as-seen-on/the-story-behind-the-recycling-symbol/3158367/

————. ‘Here's why the EPA wants to change how the recycling logo is used’. November 15, 2023. 2.55

Mostly on the problems of recycling in general than on the symbol itself. Anderson appears at 2.05, taken from the video above.

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/heres-why-the-epa-wants-to-change-how-the-recycling-logo-is-used/3160095/

Englehart, Katie. ‘First Person: Gary Anderson’. The Financial Times, May 12, 2012.

I studied engineering at the University of Southern California at a time when there was a lot of emphasis in the US on training young people to be engineers. It was in the years after Sputnik and the philosophy was that America was in danger of falling behind the Russians in the technical arena. That said, I eventually switched to architecture. I just couldn’t get a grasp on electronics….

Interview with Gary Anderson. Popular account.

Bio. Katie Engelhart is a Canadian journalist. She is a contributing writer for The New York Times. Wikipedia

https://www.ft.com/content/b242fb98-996d-11e1-9a57-00144feabdc0

Ferréol, Robert. Mathcurce

https://mathcurve.com/surfaces.gb/mobius/mobius.shtml

Asserts (with an illustration) that the recycling symbol (based on Anderson) is:

1 half-twist, cf. the strip with 3 cylinders above

Fleron, Julian, Philip Hotchkiss, Volker Ecke, Christine von Renesse. Discovering the Art of Mathematics Art and Sculpture. 2017, p. 25. (The book appears to be in ‘permanent’ draft mode.)

An even more prominent contemporary icon is the recycling symbol. Shown in Figure 1.18, this symbol was created by a 23 year-old college student named Gary Anderson (American Graphic Designer and Architect; 1947–) to help commemorate our nation’s first Earth Day celebration on 22 April, 1970. One of the most universally recognized symbols of modern times, the symbol’s history has only become more widely known recently. (Jones 1999 and Peterson 2003) This prominent symbol is also a Möbius band! Try it. Make a Möbius band and, as illustrated in Figure 1.19 flatten it to make the recycling symbol. 

A brief discussion on the recycling symbol, within a detailed chapter 3 on the Möbius strip, pp. 73–74.

Bio 1 (Fleron). After completing a Masters Degree in Mathematics at University of Minnesota he earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics at State University of New York at Albany. Discovering the Art of Mathematics

Bio 2 (Hotchkiss). Philip earned his B.S. in Mathematics from Union College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from The University at Albany, the State University of New York. Discovering the Art of Mathematics

Bio 3. (Ecke). After undergraduate studies in mathematics and physics at the Universität Konstanz (Germany), Dr. Ecke earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Discovering the Art of Mathematics

Bio 4. Von Renesse. Christine has a Master's Degree in Elementary Education, a Minor in Music and a Master's Degree in Mathematics from the Technical University Berlin, Germany. Discovering the Art of Mathematics

Gary Anderson (Designer)

Wkipedia page. Six pages. A nice treatment in the round. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Anderson_(designer)

Jones, Penny and Jerry Powell. ‘Gary Anderson has been found!’ Resource Recycling, May 1999, pp.1–2.

We tell the story of Gary Anderson, whose 1970 brainchild is recognized by nearly everyone on the planet.

The thousands involved in recycling — businesses, governmental agencies, environmental groups and others — owe much gratitude to a 51-year-old Baltimore resident…

This article largely kick-started the revival of Gary Anderson as the originator of the recycling symbol.

A nice, popular treatment, with original research on the part of the authors, including an interview with Anderson.

Publication. For 40 years, Resource Recycling magazine has helped inform and inspire municipal recycling industry professionals. Resource Recycling

Bios. Penny Jones is the recycling education specialist with the Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority (Mendham, New Jersey), and Jerry Powell is editor of Resource Recycling. Resource Recycling

https://logoblink.com/img/2008/03/recycling_symbol_garyanderson.pdf

Kabat, Jennifer. ‘Looking back to the forgotten origins of the recycling logo’. Frieze Magazine. It's Only Natural, 18 June, 2008.

Planet Green, a new cable channel dedicated entirely to eco concerns, was launched in the US last week. We’ve certainly come a long way since the green movement’s origins some 38 years ago, back when the recycling logo was launched on the first ever ‘Earth Day’. To coincide with Earth Day 1970 (initially intended as a one-off event), Container Corporation of America sponsored a student competition to design a recycling logo. CCA was one of those liberal-minded corporate behemoths that no longer exist; they believed in good design and even sponsored the International Design Conference in Aspen. The corporation also happened to be the biggest manufacturer of recycled cardboard in the country. …

A general overview. Nothing obvious as regards originality.

Bio. Jennifer Kabat is a writer. She teaches at The New School, New York, USA, and on the MFA Art Writing programme, School of Visual Arts, New York. Frieze

Publication. Frieze is an international contemporary art magazine, published eight times a year from London. The publication is part of the London and New York–based media and events company Frieze. Wikipedia

https://www.frieze.com/article/its-only-natural

Liboiron, Max. ‘Designing a Reuse Symbol and the Challenge of Recycling’s Legacy’. Discard Studies, 25 July, 2012.

The “universal” recycling symbol was designed in 1970 for a competition during America’s first Earth Day. A large producer of recycled paperboard, the Container Corporation of America, sponsored the competition. The winner was Gary Anderson, an urban design student in California, who said that he designed the symbol as a Mobius [sic] strip... 

A general look at the design aspect, featuring other symbols. Mentions the 2012 Earth911 competition. Uses quotes from Jones and Powell.

Bio. Max Liboiron is a Canadian researcher and designer known for their contributions to the study of plastic pollution and citizen science. Wikipedia

Publication. Discard Studies was founded in 2010 as an online hub for scholars, activists, environmentalists, students, artists, planners, and others who are asking questions about waste, not just as an ecological problem, but as a process, category, mentality, judgment, an infrastructural and economic challenge, and as a site for producing power as well as struggles against power structures.

Discard Studies

https://discardstudies.com/2012/07/25/designing-a-reuse-symbol-and-the-challenge-of-recyclings-legacy/

Lindbeck, John Robert. Designing. today's manufactured products. Bloomington, Ill., McKnight & McKnight Pub. Co., Second edition 1972, pp. 3–4 (Introduction).

Much work toward this goal has already been achieved. It is gratifying to note that the boxboard industry is supporting these efforts by affixing a recycling emblem to paperboard products. This attractive and meaningful symbol, shown in Fig. 1-1, resulted from a design competition sponsored by the Container Corporation of America. Other examples include cordless, molded synthetic tires; building blocks made from compressed solid wastes; bottles made from clean-burning resin; and the burying of power lines in many cities.

Fig. 1-1. This new symbol was designed to promote public awareness of materials recycling and is applicable to a spectrum of cartons and containers. (Gary Anderson/Container Corporation of America)

A mention of the recycling symbol, CCA and Gary Anderson essentially in passing, its only significance being an early (1972) pictorial reference.

CCA orientation.

Bio. John Lindbeck taught at WMU in the spring of 1957 teaching courses in basic manufacturing technology and design for manufacturing. Lindbeck served on the WMU faculty for 34 years, retiring as professor of engineering technology with emeritus status in April 1991. Western Michigan University

https://archive.org/details/designingtodaysm0000lind/page/2/mode/2up?q=%22gary+anderson%22+recycling (borrow only, no download option)

Long, Cliff. ‘Möbius or Almost Möbius’. College Mathematics Journal., Vol. 27, No. 4, September 1996, p. 277.

Have you noticed that there is more than one version of the ubiquitous recycling symbol? There is a distinct topological difference between these two versions, which frequently appear in newspapers and on envelopes, cardboard cartons, bottles, and recycling containers…

On the differences between the two versions of the ‘standard’ recycling symbols. A nice, albeit short, treatment.

Publication. The College Mathematics Journal publishes international research to enhance classroom learning, focused on mathematics curriculum and undergraduates. CMJ

Bio. Cliff began teaching mathematics at Bowling Green State University in 1959, and he taught there for the next 35 years —serving on Faculty Senate. BGS

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2687234 (scroll)

Lynch, Peter. ‘A Symbol for Global Circulation’. That’s Math Blog, 23 November 2017.

The recycling symbol consisting of three bent arrows is found on bottles, cartons and packaging of all kinds. It originated in 1970 when the Chicago-based Container Corporation of America (CCA) held a competition for the design of a symbol suitable for printing on cartons, to encourage recycling and re-use of packaging materials…

Gives background on Anderson and the CCA. Primarily on the two versions, stating that these are of one and three half twists respectively. Popular, and most informative account. Lynch (a new name to me) has also written two other popular blog posts on the Möbius strip, see overall references.

Bio. Peter Lynch hails from Glenageary, near Dun Laoghaire, in south County Dublin. He earned his BSc and MSc in mathematical science from UCD in 1968 and 1969 respectively. Maths Ireland

https://thatsmaths.com/2017/11/23/a-symbol-for-global-circulation/

Malik, Che. ‘Recycle Man’. Red Flag Magazine. Inspiring Activism (the post is oddly not dated beyond a © 2009 - 2025 Red Flag Magazine).

In 1970 Gary Anderson, a USC Graduate student entered and won a design contest sponsored by CCA – Container Corporation of America. The competition was to design a graphic symbol which would be used on recycled paper products and which could recognize a commitment to environmental sensitivity on the part of any manufacturer who was engaged in recycling….

Interview of Anderson by Malik. Has a photo of Anderson with his Volkswagen, c. 1971.

Bio. C. Malik works with brands, networks, content creators and organizations on programming and distribution development. For over 17 years Che has created and managed innovative projects across the full range of media platforms, from Television to Feature films. Creating highly rated content is his passion as he has worked with top networks such as Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TNT, MTV, TV-One, HGTV, A&E and DirecTV among others. He currently lives in Washington D.C. Redflag

Publication. Redflag.org is a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to inspiring activism.

Since 2009 we have been raising red flags over the problems facing our planet and celebrating the real life “action heroes” who have chosen to be part of the solution. Redflag

https://redflag.org/magazine/issue-6/recycle-man/#

————. ‘Recycling Symbol. Gary Anderson’. Publication and date unknown, pp. 2–3.

There is much uncertainty here. I seemingly have an excision from a print source, but what it is is not stated! This broadly repeats the online piece, albeit in short form, but possibly in print form.

1973. Montana Outdoors. Vol. 4, No. 1 January/February 1973, p. 37.

This symbol is used for recycling and was designed by Gary Anderson for a contest sponsored by The Container Corporation of America.

A drawing that subtly differs from the original, being more curvilinear. Within the ‘Classroom Conservation’ under a Earth Day content on recycled paper, different from the rest of the magazine slot. The drawing has a caption, and that’s it! The drawing is poorly rendered in terms of accuracy, possibly even freehand, with noticeably different proportions/elongations. That said, it is still based on the half-twist model (and not the three-half twist).

CCA orientation (broadly).

Publication. The magazine of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Montana FWP

Naylor, Rachel. BBC Sounds. Witness History. ‘The Universal Recycling Symbol’. 8.58. Released on 11 April 2023.)

In 1970, American architecture student Gary Anderson won a competition, to mark the first Earth Day on 22 April, to design a logo for recycled paper products.

His design of three arrows in a triangle shape remains in the public domain and is now used to mean recycling around the world.

Audio-only ‘interview’, with prepared BBC questions(?), with Gary Anderson. Anderson mentions a nursery rhyme, as part inspiration! Believing this to be new (although later I see that I was indeed familiar with it but had forgotten) and investigating further, I find that the rhyme, based on Hickory, dickory, dock, is in A Space Child's Mother Goose, by Frederick Winsor 1958. Anderson got the first line wrong in the interview. See 2.10.

Flappity, Floppity, Flip,

A Mouse on a Moebius strip.

The strip revolved,

The mouse disolved,

In a chrono-dimensional skip.

Very good! There doesn’t appear to be a transcript.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct4xfy

Paperboard Packaging. Volume 55, Issues 7-12. 1970, p. 67.

The Beginning of an Ending That Will Begin Again and End Again…

A recycling symbol designed by University of Southern California student, Gary Anderson, takes top prize in a contest sponsored by Container Corporation of America. Anderson accepted a $2,500 tuition grant for art or design school …

One of the earliest references to the recycling symbol, but unfortunately viewing the article is severely curtailed, with viewing of the first line only, with downloading prohibited. It may or not be illustrated. No author is given.

Researching this journal is fraught with difficulty; contrary descriptions are given as to whether it is still in print. The date is largely taken at trust. Certainly, the typography, as limited as it is, is indicative of 1970.

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Paperboard_Packaging/cVUSAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22Recycling+Symbol%22+%22gary+anderson%22&dq=%22Recycling+Symbol%22+%22gary+anderson%22&printsec=frontcover Snippet view

Peterson, Ivars. ‘Recycling Topology’. Science News Online. 28 September 1996. Updated 22 April 2003

It’s hard to miss the triangle of three bent arrows that signifies recycling. It appears in newspapers and magazines and on bottles, envelopes, cardboard cartons, and other containers.

But have you noticed that there are two versions of this ubiquitous symbol?…

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/recycling-topology

Has a nice discussion. Gary Anderson and Cliff Long feature. The same text is repeated in Peterson’s Mathematical Treks: From Surreal Numbers to Magic Circles.

Bio. Ivars Peterson (1948–) is a Canadian mathematics writer. Peterson received a B.Sc. in Physics and Chemistry and a B.Ed. in Education from the University of Toronto.

————. ‘Recycling Arrows’. The Mathematical Tourist (Blog). August 15, 2010.

The triangle of three bent arrows that signifies recycling is a fixture of the world in which we live. This recycling symbol appears in newspapers and magazines and on signs, bottles, envelopes, cardboard cartons, trash receptacles, and many other containers. [Fig.] If you look closely, however, you'll see all sorts of variants of this ubiquitous symbol….

A nice piece, with the basic background story of Gary Anderson, CCA, and Earth Day. Peterson points out the (subtle) differences between the two ‘standard’ versions of the recycling symbol. He quotes Dyer, Long, and Jones and Powell. Shows recycling logos not seen elsewhere, such as Harvard and a trefoil knot.

https://mathtourist.blogspot.com/2010/08/recycling-arrows.html

————. Mathematical Treks: From Surreal Numbers to Magic Circles. The Mathematical Association of America 2002, pp. 31–34.

It’s hard to miss the triangle of three bent arrows that signifies recycling. It appears in newspapers and magazines and on bottles, envelopes, cardboard cartons, and other containers.

But have you noticed that there are two versions of this ubiquitous symbol?

Chapter 6, Recycling Topology. A compilation derived from his blog postings, above.

https://vdoc.pub/download/mathematical-treks-from-surreal-numbers-to-magic-circles-7j869stn1m60

https://archive.org/details/mathematicaltrek0000pete/page/30/mode/2up?q=%22gary+anderson%22+recycling+symbol

Pickover, Cliff. The Möbius Strip: Dr. August Möbius's marvelous band in mathematics, games, literature, art, technology, and cosmology. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006.

The recycling symbol was designed in 1970 by Gary Anderson, a student at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles. Anderson submitted his logo to a nationwide contest sponsored by the Container Corporation of America.

Brief discussion, pp. xvii–xix, with one illustration (in the introduction), on the recycling symbol and Anderson’s role in it.

https://archive.org/details/mbiusstripdrau00pick/page/n23/mode/2up?q=%22mobius+strip%22

Plumb, Barbara. ‘Design for the Times’. The Plumb Line. News from an architecture and environment editor’s newsdesk. American Home, March 1971. p. 50.

As the need to recycle refuse becomes ever more pressing, it is comforting to know that what we buy or use has had or can have another life in another form. The bent-arrows symbol, shown below, has been chosen to appear on paper or paperboard packages made from recycled or recyclable materials. Gary Anderson, a University of Southern California student, won first prize with the design in a contest sponsored by the Container Corporation of America. (All)

A brief illustrated snippet among other architecture and environment news of the day. Of significance as one of the earliest pictorial representations of the symbol. The piece says that the symbol is copyrighted by CCA.

CCA orientation.

Bio. Barbara Plumb was an architecture and environmental reporter for American Home magazine, New York City, 1970–1973.

Publication. The American Home was a monthly magazine published in the United States from 1928 to 1977. Its subjects included domestic architecture, interior design, landscape design and gardening. Wikipedia

https://www.araks.com/blogs/the-blog/gary-andersons-recycle-symbol?srsltid=AfmBOoredWd-JWq-L8_6BdfZvjkbBmNu-OSu5Yi3RH5Ne4eFQ4wa4OCB

https://archive.org/details/usmodernist-AH-1971-03/page/50/mode/2up?q=%22gary+anderson%22+recycling (201 MB!)

Recycling Symbol. Wikipedia

Four pages. Mentions Anderson and CCA, within a broader context, including variants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling_symbol

Robertson, Nicole. ‘The Recycling Symbol Designer Gary Anderson’. The Swap Society. YouTube/Podcast, 18 May 2023. 55.04.

In this episode, Gary shares the influences behind his design including the emerging consciousness of environmentalism and the first Earth Day, Bauhaus, Buckminster Fuller, MC Escher, The Möbius Strip, paper processing and the printing press, Ron Cobb’s Ecology Symbol, the Woolmark logo, and more. He also talks about the evolution of the symbol and an encounter with it that struck him more than when he learned he had won the competition.

Bio. Nicole Robertson is the Founder and CEO of Swap Society. She previously worked at Cereplast as a Vice President of Marketing & Communications. Nicole Robertson attended the University of Illinois Chicago. Crunhbase

Background. Swap Society is a subscription clothing swap service that uses a points system to give consumers equal value for their unwanted clothes. The service makes it fun, affordable, and easy for people to mix up their wardrobes in a sustainable way. Swap Society

Delightful! Anderson is interviewed from his home. A transcript is available, albeit not particularly reader-friendly, with date stamps and one- or two-line text. To this end, I compiled a document to better show the text, reducing the page length by about two-thirds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWPqgJ-qmfk

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AIINIr5up3M8u2Garaz2XU29FUALy2sN_gfWnCxt3qk/edit?usp=sharing

Rosam, Emmy. ‘Recycling Symbol, 1947 [sic] (Gary Anderson)’. October 20, 2017.

Medium. Published in FGD1 The Archive

Poor quality writing and riddled with minor errors such as ‘Gary Anderson, born 1927’, a missing apostrophe in ‘Andersons’ and other typos, which being of the basics does not exactly inspire confidence. Quite what ‘1947’ in the title is referring to is unclear. I thought Medium was a quality outlet. ‘Seen and noted’.

Background. FGD1 is described as ‘An Archive of Graphic Design by Year 1 Graphic Design Students at Edinburgh Napier University’.

Bio. No details on Rosam are readily available

https://medium.com/fgd1-the-archive/recycling-symbol-1947-gary-anderson-f873715d9042

Souldern, Jeanne. ‘Recycling symbol designer returns to Aspen’. The Sopris Sun. March 13, 2024.

When designer Gary Anderson arrives in Aspen next week, it will be his first return since 1972, when his iconic recycling symbol was unveiled at that year’s annual International Design Conference…

Interview.9500351627

The story essentially previews his March 18 interview with Andrew Travers and Liz Chapman.

Bio. Souldern appears to be a reporter with The Sopris Sun.

https://soprissun.com/recycling-symbol-designer-returns-to-aspen/

Stockholm University. 50th year anniversary for the designer of the recycling symbol. 2021 (Date implied).

A brief (three-page) Interview with Gary Anderson. Although the interview is largely Stockholm- oriented, for obvious reasons, there are occasion mentions of the recycling symbol. No mention is made of the Möbius strip underpinning the design. There is nothing new to advance the study.

Thanks to Gary Anderson designing the world-famous recycling symbol in 1971, the prize money enabled the American architect, planner and graphic designer to attend Stockholm University to study urban sociology and welfare economics. 50 years later, he remembers the Swedish people most of all, who he felt had an “innate, optimistic commitment to social and material progress”...

https://www.su.se/english/education/alumni/hear-from-our-alumni/50th-year-anniversary-for-the-designer-of-the-recycling-symbol-1.606846?open-collapse-boxes=contact-555666777

The Aspen Institute. ‘The Recycling Symbol: Born In Aspen’. 20 March 2024. Video, 1.05.

Designer Gary Anderson in Conversation with Recycle Colorado's Liz Chapman and Andrew Travers, Penner Manager of Educational Programs, Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies

Learn about the genesis of the "chasing arrows" recycling symbol, its Aspen roots and connection to Herbert Bayer from its creator, Gary Anderson.

Popular discussion. Anderson is featured throughout, beginning at 20 minutes. Anderson mentioned in Who’s Who, 44.00.

A transcript is available under the download option, of SUBRIP (which I was unaware of until this date!). Much to my annoyance, I had previously missed this video (it was uploaded on 21 March 2024), good parts of the study may well have advanced the study earlier if I had been familiar with it. For instance, although admittedly lightweight, it shows the ‘Floppity’ poem which coincidentally I saw earlier the same day!

https://archive.org/details/theaspen-The_Recycling_Symbol_-_Born_In_Aspenhttps://archive.org/download/theaspen-The_Recycling_Symbol_-_Born_In_Aspen/The_Recycling_Symbol_-_Born_In_Aspen.en.asr.srt

The Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office: Trademarks. 1975.

NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "INTERNATIONAL RECYCLING SYMBOL", APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN.

Again, the rendering is very poor indeed, almost (and arguably is) slovenly. In CCA orientation.

https://archive.org/details/officialgazette1116aunit/page/n411/mode/2up?q=%22recycling+symbol%22+%22gary+anderson%22

Travers, Andrew. ‘The recycling symbol’s Aspen roots. College student Gary Anderson’s iconic ‘chasing arrows’ logo was selected at 1970 International Design Conference at Aspen’. Aspen Journalism, March 12, 2024.

As a shy and bearded young architecture student at the University of Southern California in the spring of 1970, Gary Anderson happened upon a flyer advertising a graphic-design contest. It called for students to create a symbol to promote the recycling of paper products, with a winner to be selected at that summer’s International Design Conference at Aspen….

Andrew Travers is an Aspen-based freelance journalist and Penner Manager of Educational Programs at the Aspen Institute. He will moderate a discussion with Gary Anderson and Liz Chapman at the Dunaway Room in the Pitkin County Library on March 18 from 6 to 7 p.m. The event is free; registration is required, learn more online at eventbrite.com, searching for “The Recycling Symbol: Born in Aspen.

Interview by Travers of an in-person discussion with Anderson and audience in Aspen pre an upload of the event on the Internet Archive on 25 July 2024. See ‘The Aspen Institute’ (only seen much later, 4 January 2025. Required reading.

Bio. Andrew Travers is a Colorado-based journalist and former editor of the Aspen Times.

https://aspenjournalism.org/the-recycling-symbols-aspen-roots/

Walker, H. Ronald. (ed). Iowa Architect. April/May/June 1971, p. 24.

Push-me Pull-me recycling symbol

When you see this symbol on a paper or paperboard package, you can take comfort in the knowledge that the item has been made for recycled or recyclable materials. The symbol, designed by U.S.C. student Gary Anderson, won first prize in a student contest sponsored by Container] Corp. of America on behalf of the paper and paperboard packaging industry.

A brief illustrated entry. Of significance as the joint earliest representation (of Anderson’s favoured orientation) of the recycling symbol, 1971. The draugtmanship is questionable as to Anderson’s ideal.

CCA orientation

Publication. Our mission is to serve the AIA Iowa membership by being the voice of the profession of architecture, promoting the value of good design, and advocating for the health and safety of the public. AIA (2025 mission statement)

Winsor, Frederich. The Space Child's Mother Goose. A Fireside Book, Published by Simon and Schuster. First published 1958. New York.

Verses by Frederick Winsor, with Illustrations by Marian Parry

Möbius rhyme, No. 14. Illustrated with a Möbius strip.

Flappity, Floppity, Flip,

A Mouse on a Moebius strip.

The strip revolved,

The mouse disolved,

In a chrono-dimensional skip.

Very good!

Some of the verses are said to have previously appeared in the Atlantic, but the Möbius rhyme was not.

Publication. Moved by an addiction to science fiction, former Boston Architect Frederick Winsor, 56, tried his hand at a new literary form: “space rhymes” for children and adults. The results, some of which appear in the current Atlantic, constitute a somewhat garbled tribute to the complexities of life, in or out of the nursery, in a mid-20th-century universe.

Bio. Frederick Winsor, Jr. was born in Massachusetts in 1900. He earned a degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and spent his working life in architecture and related areas. His friends were scientists, teachers, lawyers, artists and writers. For most of his adult life he wrote light verse. He produced poems for family occasions, to amuse his friends and to entertain his children. He also wrote lyrics for amateur musical shows, many of which were produced by the St. Botolph Club of Boston. A voracious reader, he devoured detective fiction faster than the bookstores could keep him supplied and he was delighted by the emergence of science fiction to which he turned with enthusiasm. He retired in 1951 and wrote The Space Child's Mother Goose over the next few years, inspired perhaps by the development of space research and the birth of his first grandchild. He was working on a second book of verse when he died unexpectedly in 1958.

https://archive.org/details/spacechildsmothe0000fred/page/n75/mode/2up

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1957/07/the-space-childs-mother-goose/640775/

Yoder, Kate. ‘How the recycling symbol lost its meaning. Corporations sold Americans on the chasing arrows — while stripping the logo of its worth’. Grist. June 12, 2024.

An early draft of the recycling symbol, sent in a letter designer Gary Anderson wrote to his mother.

“This is the closest thing I have to a preliminary sketch,” Anderson said. The original sketch, made used only drafting instruments, was destroyed in a fire in Anderson’s garage. Courtesy of Gary Anderson

Concentrates on the difficulties of practical recycling in a lengthy piece (27 pp.). Gary Anderson is mentioned pp. 7–8 and the text recounts the general story. However, it does have a new detail, of the original sketch being destroyed in a fire, not seen before. It is stated, accompanying a sketch (sent to his mother):

Was this from Anderson himself in an interview with Grist? There is no indication that this was so. 

The piece directly quotes Anderson elsewhere, but likely from a secondary source.

Bio. Kate Yoder. Senior staff writer. I'm a journalist writing about climate change through the lens of culture, language, history, and accountability. LinkedIn

Publication. Grist (originally Grist Magazine; also referred to as Grist.org) is an American non-profit online magazine founded in 1999 that publishes environmental news and commentary. Grist's tagline is "Climate. Justice. Solutions." Grist is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and has about 50 writers and employees. Its CEO is former editor-in-chief Nikhil Swaminathan. Wikipedia

https://grist.org/culture/recycling-symbol-logo-plastic-design/

Uploaded 28 May 2025. Text derived from Google Docs, December 2024; January 2025 as titled.