The ♻️ emoji represents recycling and is officially named BLACK UNIVERSAL RECYCLING SYMBOL. Its three chasing arrows form the internationally recognized recycling symbol.
The symbol was created in 1970 by Gary Anderson for a design contest organized as part of the first Earth Day. The winning design was based on a Möbius strip and came to represent materials being collected, processed, and reused. The emoji adapts that established environmental symbol for digital communication.
The recycling symbol does not automatically mean that every item carrying it is accepted by a local recycling program. Recycling rules differ by country, region, and material. It is also distinct from circular-arrow emoji such as 🔄, which usually suggests repetition, refreshing, or rotation rather than waste recovery.