Designed by Gary Anderson in 1970 after entering the winning design into a competition arranged by the CCA (Container Corporation America), open to students in the U.S., to create a design that would be used on recycled paper products.
How Anderson met the brief successfully: re-CYCLE - continuous, never-ending 'Mobius strip' reflecting the cycle of life, the cycle of constant re-use that the paper will go through. Its 2D quality makes it appear thin, like the paper it is referring to.
Taiwan recycling logo - note use of negative space (arrows):
