By 2028 MasterCard Payment Cards will only come from Recycled Plastics

MasterCard has decided to withdraw its first-use PVC plastic gradually from its payment network by replacing it with cards made from recycled plastics by 2028.

Mastercard placed limitations on the use of first-use PVC cards since it formed the Greener Payments Partnership with card manufacturers like Gelmalto, Giesecke+ Devrient, and IDEMIA through its digital security lab. Over time, over 330 issuers across 80 countries have partnered with the MasterCard Sustainable Card Program, working with major card manufacturers to change over 168 million cards across its network to recycled and bio-based materials. 

This initiative is expected to be welcomed because it is environmentally friendly and will help to bring other initiatives to the market, like Priceless Planet Coalition, Carbon Calculator, and Sustainable Card. 

The Group head of Retail Banking and Strategy, wealth, and Personal Banking at HSBC, Taylan Turan, mentioned that new materials such as rPVC offer the sector the possibility of facilitating its efforts in building a more sustainable future. In addition, HSBC has already started recycling plastic payment cards across 28 of its global markets and fixed the requirements to use sustainable materials for all debit cards and commercial cards in its product governance.

Ajay Bhalla, the president of Cyber and intelligence at MasterCard, noted that the company is working towards achieving a more environmentally friendly conscious future. Micheal Battagliese, Head of Payment Solutions, and Senior vice president at Bank of the West stated that the continuity of a business is the right thing to do. 

The bank formed an alliance with MasterCard on its 1% for the planet checking Account debit cards, which reduces the impact of first-use PVC on the environment. Helen Bierton, Chief of banking offices at Starling Bank, said that the initiative is an accepted step in the journey to a sustainable future. The primary aim of this initiative is to accept environmentally friendly customers.

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