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Anderson keeps a candy bowl filled with recycling pins to give to guests at his Bolton Hill home. (Jerry Jackson\/The Banner)<\/p>\nIn 1970, Gary Anderson created what would become one of the world\u2019s most recognizable and enduring icons in the time it takes most of us to decide what\u2019s for dinner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came up with the recycling symbol in just a couple of days, and to be honest, it was probably more a couple of minutes,\u201d Anderson said, chuckling, during a recent interview inside his Bolton Hill home.<\/p>\n
On a whim, the then-23-year-old University of Southern California graduate student entered and won a $2,500 design contest by drawing three arrows in perpetual, triangular motion.<\/p>\n
As the world celebrates Earth Day, the inventor of the recycling symbol is now a 78-year-old retiree who chooses to call Baltimore home. While Anderson was a nature lover at an early age, the former architect is far from the stereotype of the baby boomer hippie who is determined to save a warming planet from human folly.<\/p>\n
In fact, his relationship with his ubiquitous creation is complicated. <\/p>\n
For many years, Anderson refused to include it on his r\u00e9sum\u00e9. The more prominent the symbol became, the less interested he was in claiming credit. He was an architect, not a graphic designer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I were hiring, and somebody sent me something that wasn\u2019t really central to what the job requirements were,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019d think that that person didn\u2019t really understand what the job was all about.\u201d<\/p>\n
The symbol\u2019s origins trace back to a contest sponsored by the Container Corporation of America, which wanted to promote the recycling of paper products. The rules were simple: The black-and-white logo had to be reproducible and legible at a quarter-inch size and would be free to use in the public domain. Only high schoolers and college students could apply.<\/p>\n
Anderson, who saw the call for entries posted on a bulletin board, was intrigued by minimalist logos that \u201cwere very simple but jam-packed with meaning,\u201d like AT&T\u2019s globe and IBM\u2019s striped, art deco-leaning letters.<\/p>\n
Inspired by the mechanics of a printing press and M.C. Escher\u2019s dream-like optical illusions, Anderson submitted his pencil drawing with no expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never been a person who really focuses easily on things in my life. So no, I didn\u2019t think, \u2018I\u2019m gonna win this by hook or by crook,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cIt was more like, \u2018Well, I could do this. I could come up with something.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
That, of course, turned out to be quite an understatement.<\/p>\n
Anderson keeps a candy bowl filled with recycling pins to give to guests at his Bolton Hill home. (Jerry Jackson\/The Banner)<\/p>\n
Nolen Strals, a creative director whose portfolio includes work for The New York Times and Taharka Bros. Ice Cream, called the recycling symbol \u201cthe pinnacle of design,\u201d on par with the peace sign and religious symbols.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t look like anything else,\u201d Strals said. \u201cIt reproduces well at whatever size. It always looks like itself, and it distills a very complex concept to something that anyone can grasp.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s safe to say that, given the widespread use and instant recognition of the recycling symbol today, Anderson\u2019s cash prize \u2014 equivalent to just under $21,000 in 2026 \u2014 was a drastic bargain.<\/p>\n
Sitting across from Anderson, I had to ask: Do you allow yourself to fantasize about what your life would look like if you had been compensated for even a fraction of the symbol\u2019s potential monetary value?<\/p>\n
No, he said without hesitation. The rules were the rules \u2014 plus \u201cit doesn\u2019t really have any financial value because nobody would use it if they had to pay for it.\u201d <\/p>\n
And with that, Anderson went about his life, not giving much thought to the symbol\u2019s post-contest life. <\/p>\n
But he began noticing it popping up more and more \u2014 first in the corner of a bank statement envelope, then on a trip to Amsterdam, where Anderson saw it \u201cblown up to the size of a beach ball\u201d on recycling bins. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the first time I really thought, \u2018Yes, this seems to have caught on,\u2019\u201d said Anderson, who later moved to Baltimore for a job with architectural firm RTKL Associates.<\/p>\n
Harris Waltuck, a graphic designer and teacher at Baltimore Design School, said the recycling symbol is an example of \u201cimmensely successful\u201d design because of its scalability and usage all over the world. It\u2019s even an emoji.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really transcends from age group to age group,\u201d Waltuck said. \u201cA brand [logo] is one thing. Something that we really need to use and rely on, that\u2019s another thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
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A recycling bin from Anne Arundel County\u2019s Department of Public Works showcases Anderson’s ubiquitous design. (Pamela Wood\/The Banner)<\/p>\n
The symbol\u2019s growing presence also reinforced Anderson\u2019s stance on excluding it from his r\u00e9sum\u00e9: \u201cIt would just overpower everything else that I had to show.\u201d<\/p>\n
He finally came around after hearing that someone in Container Corporation of America\u2019s graphics department claimed they made the symbol. Anderson knew he needed to start taking ownership of his creation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to gloat myself over this, but I\u2019d be damned if I\u2019m gonna have somebody else taking credit for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Today, Anderson will speak at events and conferences about the symbol when asked, which nowadays happens with more frequency. Attendees tell him he must feel \u201cso proud and blessed.\u201d And sure, he\u2019s grateful that people are more aware of recycling thanks to his work. <\/p>\n
But, for Anderson, those adjectives fail to hit the mark.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to explain,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cI\u2019m not really proud, per se. And I hate it when people say, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m so humbled.\u2019 What does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
With Earth Day\u2019s arrival, it\u2019s natural to wonder how Anderson feels about the state of the planet. Like millions of us, he\u2019s grown increasingly concerned about the deteriorating environment. He doesn\u2019t understand why there hasn\u2019t been more progress in recycling to make it easier and more efficient.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, my goodness, the idea of recycling has been around quite a while now,\u201d he said. \u201cWhy haven\u2019t more technologies been developed that could help recycle these things?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anderson understands why some consumers feel like the process takes too much effort or feel skeptical about whether the items will be properly recycled.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut for all that, it\u2019s still better to do it than not to do it,\u201d he said. \u201cAnything is better than nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1970, Gary Anderson created what would become one of the world\u2019s most recognizable and enduring icons in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-599577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}