The Recycling Symbol Designer Gary Anderson

Gary Anderson is an American architect, urban planner, and the designer of the recycling symbol. In 1970, at the age of 23, Gary won a design contest that sought a symbol to identify products that were made from recycled materials and/or were recyclable. Today, Gary’s now iconic design is one of the most recognized symbols in the world. 

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. 

For show notes visit: https://www.swapsociety.co/pages/podcast