Sustainability Packaging Gets a Vocabulary Problem—Solved
A Colombian studio redesigned the global reuse symbol. Plastic Change kicked off a provocation campaign. The industry is running out of patience with vague green claims and starting to build sharper tools instead.
Epigrama's new reuse symbol is a small thing with outsized implications. The current recycling arrows have been on packaging since 1970 and mean increasingly little—consumers can't tell what's recyclable, what's compostable, and what's wishful thinking. A studio in Bogotá decided to design the missing piece: a clear, legible mark specifically for *reuse*. It won't change the world tomorrow, but the act of naming the gap is the first honest step.
Plastic Change took the blunter route. Their campaign—described as a real kick in the nuts—skips the gentle nudge and goes straight for visceral. Shock is a crowded tactic in sustainability communication, but the intent behind it is the same as Epigrama's: the current vocabulary isn't working.
Brands that want to build credibility on sustainability now face a concrete challenge. Vague terms like "eco-friendly" or "conscious packaging" have been diluted past the point of meaning anything. The opportunity is specificity: what exactly is reusable, by whom, under what conditions. That's a design problem as much as a legal one.
The studios doing the most interesting work in this space aren't waiting for regulation to clarify the rules. They're proposing new symbols, new language, new provocation—and betting that clarity itself is a competitive advantage.