Waste avoidance has been, and will always remain, Lloyds Banking Group’s key priority. To evidence this commitment, it has reduced its operational waste across its offices, branches and data centres by an impressive 80%, from a 2014/15 baseline. Whilst meeting this achievement, Lloyds Banking Group recognised that it could also do significantly better at turning more of its hard-to-avoid waste into a valuable resource.

Consequently, Lloyds Banking Group embarked on a framework that met its ambition of environmental impact avoidance. Core to achieving this was a collaboration with co-cre8 to help it design a pioneering new generation of sustainable recycling stations to help it more effectively segregate both recycling and hard-to-recycle materials that are produced across its office estate.

co-cre8 welcomed the challenge and, working under its Honest brand, set out to design and manufacture a revolutionary new type of recycling collection station; the rBin.

Leveraging its design and manufacturing expertise, co-cre8 created a functional rBin design that not only separated out multiple waste streams, but could also be custom branded to Lloyds Banking Group’s requirements. Furthermore, each unit would be made from Regency Recycled Plastic Board; a product from co-cre8’s manufacturing partner that contains 95% of locally-sourced recycled materials, including used coffee grounds and recycled plastics and which, importantly, is manufactured in the UK.

These materials also include Lloyds Banking Group’s legacy recycling stations, which have now been superseded by the rBin. As each legacy station is replaced, it will be collected by co-cre8 and brought into the recycling process so that it can be used in the manufacture of new rBins.

Another significant feature of the rBIn is its flexibility. The modular nature of the design not only means that it can quickly be adapted to the needs of the customer, but also results in a product that is easier to refurbish rather than replace.

Years of experience from implementating recycling schemes has taught co-cre8 that success is achieved through a high degree of customer engagement and accessibility. It’s not just about helping end-users put the right materials in the right compartments, or positioning bins in the right place but, more importantly, changing behaviour that encourages users to instinctively do the right thing.

Therefore, to boost accessibility, the rBin, displays examples of each waste stream to assist the neuro-divergent, and braille for the visually impaired.

The rBin has been design to house individual compartments for six streams of waste; soft plastics, card and paper, can and hard plastics, non-recyclables, food waste and even residue liquids from beverage containers.

As with any pioneering project using recycled materials, there are always challenges when taking an ‘honest’ approach to manufacturing. Recycled materials are inherently inconsistent in nature, compared to virgin ones, and so there must be a collective understanding of what ‘perfect imperfection’ will look like. So, whilst the end point is more rewarding, the journey is much harder to reach.

To overcome these challenges, Lloyds Banking Group and co-cre8 collaborated closely, from the design and sampling phases right through to mass production, in order to achieve the unique product that is the rBin.

Following an intense initial phase, with multiple prototypes user-tested within Lloyds Banking Group’s estate, an optimum rBin design specification was achieved. The rBin is now in full production, with more than 250 units being rolled out across 16 Lloyds Banking Group office sites.

The reaction from employees has been excellent. Not only has there been greater engagement with the recycling units, due to their intuitive visual design and accessibility, but they are also allowing Lloyds Banking Group to communicate a deeper sustainability story with its employees.