"Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" Button

Description:

To combat the proliferation of consumer waste, environmentalists encouraged everyone to embrace the “3 R’s”: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. This button entwined that message with the universal recycling symbol, a logo created in 1970 by University of Southern California senior Gary Anderson.

The button is among the more than 1,500 pin-backed environmental buttons that Gerald H. Meral donated to the National Museum of American History. Meral spent his career addressing natural resource concerns for the California state government and California-based non-governmental organizations. He began assembling his button collection in 1970.

Subject: Environmental Movement

Subject:

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Biological Sciences, Government, Politics, and Reform, Health & Medicine, American Enterprise, Environmental Buttons

Exhibition: American Enterprise

Exhibition Location: National Museum of American History

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 2003.0014.0286Accession Number: 2003.0014Catalog Number: 2003.0014.0286

Object Name: button

Physical Description: metal (overall material)Measurements: overall: .33 cm x 3.5 cm; 1/8 in x 1 3/8 in

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ab-824a-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1284430

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.