Landscape Forms helps create recycling receptacles for Central Park

Kathy Jennings | Thursday, March 19, 2015

Landscape Forms recycling and trash receptacles

Litter and trash receptacles designed for Central Park in New York City turned out so well they will be sold to a broader market.

"This is our first product to start as a custom job and then become a standard product," says Landscape Forms President Richard Heriford. The litter and recycling system was developed in collaboration with Landor, a design and branding firm.

The Central Park Conservancy, the nonprofit that funds maintenance and capital improvements for the nation's largest public park, hired Landor to create a program that would advance the park's environmental stewardship program and develop custom designed receptacles to go along with it.

Landor's team designed a three-unit system compete with branding and signage. They turned to Studio 431, Landscape Forms custom products division, to develop, engineer, and manufacture their design.

Technical expertise in sustainable materials came from Alcoa. The units are made of 30 percent aluminum and are 100 percent recyclable. They have a hinged top and hold a polyethylene liner that can be used with or without a plastic bag, making them easy for park workers to empty and transport.

The Central Park Conservancy receptacles are identical in size and shape, different in color and in the size of top openings: gray with blue around the aperture for cans and bottles,"conservancy" green for paper, and tan for waste.

The receptacles keep tons of recyclable material out of landfill, help to streamline the waste management process, and enhance cleanliness and convenience for 40 million annual Central Park visitors.

The Central Park Conservancy Recycling System has received multiple accolades for their design, including GOOD DESIGN and SEGD awards, the Spark Design Silver Award and the Cannes Festival of Creativity Award--a prestigious Cannes Gold Lion--in the new"Social Good" product category.

“When you walk around the park you see how well the units compliment their setting," says Kirt Martin, vice president of design and marketing at Landscape Forms. "They are visually delightful."

Inspiration for the design came from the classic 1939 Corona Park bench (also known as the World’s Fair bench).

The receptacles re-envisions hooped arms and seat slats for a new purpose, creating a visual prompt to encourage parks visitors to appropriately discard their waste. The tilt of the vertical slats, the spiral flow of the lid, and the placement of typography all draw the eye up to the receptacle’s opening.

"The design," says Martin, "is very strong but doesn’t overwhelm."

Source: Landscape Forms