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The first ever recycling logo, the now iconic Mobius loop symbol, had rather low key beginnings. It was designed in response to a 1970 student competition sponsored by Container Corporation of America (CCA), a manufacturer of cardboard boxes and, in design terms, one of the most enlightened companies of the time (both Herbert Bayer and Alan Fletcher worked for CCA). The winning logo was created by 23-year-old Gary Anderson in 1970 while he was a student at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. CCA was the largest paper recycler in the US at the time and the logo was to be used on its recycled products. Anderson's design beat over 500 other entries to impress the competition judges at the 1970 International Design Conference that was held in Aspen, Colorado, and he was awarded a prize of $2500. Once the symbol began being used however, it was quickly picked up by other firms and became the popularly recognised symbol for recycling in the US. This led to the CCA attempting to trademark the design, but the application was challenged and the corporation abandoned the claim, meaning that the symbol continues to be in the public domain and is free for anyone to use. The logo remains Anderson's only significant contribution to graphic design - after graduating the following year he went into urban planning.