Info About the Recycling Logo
The triple arrowed logo has become the ubiquitous symbol for recycling around the world, but did you know the design originally started as a money-making idea for a Chicago-based packaging company? Or that the logo was created as part of a design contest to mark the first official Earth Day?
It’s probably one of the most famous logos on the planet. Right up there with Coca Cola, Nike and Apple, and I would imagine there’s very few who don’t instantly recognize the three pointy arrows of the recycling logo. Anyone who’s ever designed packaging in the last twenty years or so has probably placed the mark on artwork, and there’s probably quite a few of you that spent a few hours hunting down a decent vector version of the symbol, as the clock clicked down to press time. I know I got caught out a few times (there’s now entire websites dedicated to making pristine vector and CAD versions available to designers). Many may not be too familiar with the recycling logo’s interesting history (I wasn’t) so as part of our So You Think You Know Logos? series, we’ll take a trip down memory together.