Plastic-free gifting is on the cards

8 Sep 2019 • 4 minute read

Sustainable Green Gift Cards awarded The Plastic Free Trust Mark.

The battle to reduce the retail industry’s reliance on single and limited use plastics is nothing new and we are witnessing a growing number of initiatives to speed up the fight. Clear labelling on products is one of the simplest ways to help better inform shoppers of what they are buying and what they should do with the waste once that item is used.

One of the recent initiatives grabbing headlines is the Plastic Free Trust Mark scheme. The scheme is focussed on making it simple for everyone - an overtly clear message on accredited packaging and products that state thee is no plastic in the item...this means we as the end user who are burdened with the responsible waste management know that item can go in to landfill or household recycling easily with no detrimental effect.

We are delighted to announce that Green Gift Cards has been awarded The Plastic Free Trust Mark. That makes us unique, again, in the card space and provides a much-needed boost as our clients look for ways to effectively communicate their switch from plastic to paperboard.

Brands and retailers switching from plastic to Green Gift Cards’ eco-friendly solutions can now apply through Green Gift Cards to carry the Trust Mark championing their work to reduce single use plastics and assuring shoppers who are actively looking for plastic free purchasing choices.

In the UK alone, over 800 million plastic cards are produced every year. Of these, over 200 million are gift cards, predominantly used once and then sent to landfill. The plastic in these cards weighs the equivalent of 2,200 mid-size cars! There is currently no recycling infrastructure for post-consumer plastic cards and although BioPVC cards break down over time, they simply fragment into smaller particles contaminating the soil, watercourses and eventually finding their way into the food chain and we've all seen the media’s coverage of finding plastic microbeads in the fish we eat.

The UK-based campaign group behind the new Trust Mark, A Plastic Planet, carefully evaluated Green Gift Cards - assessing our work and products to verify that our innovative production of durable yet recyclable paperboard from Iggesund used for our cards meets its stringent certification criteria.

Made with 100% natural materials, the cards are recyclable and compostable. Green Cards’ production also consumes less resources with 97% less carbon produced in their manufacture compared with plastic cards. The paperboard starts life in sustainably managed forests and the low-emission paper mill’s cutting-edge technology recovers heat to generate its own electricity; sell-on surplus power; and even provides district heating for the nearby community. 

Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet: “When we gift a card, the last thing we want is to be destroying the planet in the process.  So, it’s incredibly important that companies like Green Gift Cards innovate to provide sustainable alternatives so retailers and shoppers alike can make essential changes. Our Plastic Free Trust Mark gives retailers the confidence to make another vital step in reducing plastic pollution and it empowers card givers to make smart, guilt-free choices. This is a big step forward for an industry that has slid into a totally unnecessary dependence on plastic.”