in the aftermath of the birth of environmentalism in the US and the beginning of earth day in 1970, paper recycler ‘the container corporation of america’ sponsored a student design competition for a symbol that represents the recycling process. in september 1970 then-college senior gary anderson won the $2,500 prize with his now-infamous ‘mobius loop.’ immediately the symbol was adopted by the paper industry, and while the competition sponsor tried to retain copyright their claim was contested because it had already achieved notoriety. rather than fight the claim, they dropped it and went on to design two variations on the original (below) and rotate the symbol by 60 degrees from the original proposal (above). you can read more about the designer and his story in this pdf.
