Mastercard will take the initiative to manufacture plastic payment cards using eco-friendly materials, accelerating the company’s sustainability commitments and providing a more sustainable card.
From January 1, 2028, all newly-created cards will be made from recycled or bio-sourced plastics.
The company will encourage global issuing partners to get away from virgin PVC plastics.
In Asia-Pacific alone, 90 card issuers across 15 markets have already joined Mastercard’s Sustainable Card Program and worldwide, more than 330 issuers from 80 different countries since 2018.
Sandeep Malhotra, an executive VP with Mastercard in Asia, believes that solving the plastic problem will be a whole-of-society task.
“With this sustainable cards effort, Mastercard is bringing its global network of banks, financial institutions and consumers – who collectively hold more than 3 billion Mastercard cards – together to build a greener payments sector through collaboration and partnership.”
In addition, the company has partnered with significant card producers to transition more than 168 million cards across its network, including 31 million in the Asia Pacific area, to recycled and bio-based materials.
Once they have been validated, all new cards will also be imprinted with the Card Eco Certification label.
Earlier this year, ING Bank said it would use plastic waste recovered from beaches to make Ocean Plastic cards.
