Origin of the recycling symbol

The original recycling symbol was designed in 1970 by Gary Anderson, a senior at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles. It was submitted to the International Design Conference as part of a nationwide contest for high school and college students sponsored by the Container Corporation of America. The contest was a result of continuing growth of consumer awareness and environmentalism and a response to the first Earth Day.

The recycling symbol represents a Mobius loop consisting of three-chasing-arrows in the shape of a triangle having rounded vertices. Each arrow twists and turns itself, and all three arrows chase each other. It is a consummate representation of recycling. The mobius loop itself was discovered in 1858 by August Ferdinand Möbius (1790-1868), a German mathematician and astronomer, and has been a mathematical marvel of simplicity, singularity, and continuity ever since.
Meaning of the recycling symbol

Each of the three arrows can represent one step in a three-step process that forms a closed loop, the recycling loop. The first step represents collection of materials to be recycled. This step takes place when recyclable materials are placed into your curbside recycling bin or taken to a local collection center. The collected materials are then cleaned and sorted for sale to a manufacturing facility. The manufacturing process is the second arrow in the recycling symbol. The recyclable materials are manufactured into new products for retail or commercial sale. The third step is the actual purchase and use of the products made from the recycled materials. The loop is now complete.
Remember the three R's- Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
Evolution of recycling symbols

The present resin identification coding system that is detailed above was introduced by the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) in 1988 at the urging of recyclers around the country. In an effort to decrease the volume of waste subject to tipping fees at landfills, a growing number of communities were implementing recycling programs. These programs were often driven by state-level recycling mandates. The resin identification code was developed to meet recyclers needs while providing manufacturers a consistent, uniform system that could apply nationwide.

The resin identification coding system offered a means of identifying the resin content of bottles and containers commonly found in the residential waste stream. By identifying the resin content, consumers would know what types of plastic packaging were being utilized, and hence, which ones could be recycled. Consumers were, and will always be, the first line of action in any effective recycling program. The bulk recyclers would also filter the incoming stream of post consumer recyclables by looking at the code on the plastic packaging.

Since the first recycling symbol was designed, and the plastic resin codes introduced, certain industries have developed unique symbols specific to an industry. For example, industry associations for glass, for paperboard, and for corrugated materials have all developed, and in some cases trademarked, unique recycling symbols. These three separate symbols can all be classified as 'recyclable' symbols.

www.earthodyssey.com/symbols.html