17 Sep 2025 • 3 minute read
In a bold step towards sustainability, Saracens Rugby Club, London's premier rugby union team, eliminated plastic from their 2025/26 season tickets through a seamless collaboration with Green Gift Cards. This landmark project delivered over 2,500 fully personalised, eco-friendly paperboard tickets—recyclable, biodegradable, and compostable—directly to fans' doorsteps. The initiative slashed carbon emissions by 91%, saving 107 kgCO₂e, equivalent to 114 rail miles or 324 boiled kettles. By leveraging cutting-edge technology and certified green materials, Green Gift Cards not only met Saracens' ambitious ESG goals but set a new standard for sustainable ticketing in professional sports.
Saracens Rugby Club has long been a beacon of excellence on the pitch, but off it, the club is equally committed to driving positive change in the community. As a globally recognised brand, Saracens sought to reduce its environmental footprint in response to growing fan expectations for greener practices. Traditional plastic season tickets posed a significant hurdle: non-recyclable in many systems, energy-intensive to produce, and contributing to the 300 million plastic cards discarded annually worldwide.
For the 2025/26 season, covering both men's and women's teams, Saracens sought a complete overhaul. They needed a solution that maintained high-quality personalisation—unique fan names, membership details, seat numbers, barcodes, and QR codes—for seamless stadium entry, while drastically cutting waste and emissions. The goal? A 100% plastic-free ticketing system that aligned with their high ESG values and inspired the rugby community to follow suit.
Green Gift Cards emerged as the ideal partner, bringing unmatched certified green credentials and proven partnerships with industry leaders like Holmen Board & Paper and Ricoh. Our innovative paperboard cards offer a truly sustainable alternative to plastic, combining superior quality with environmental integrity.
Our solution transformed a routine administrative task into a powerful statement of sustainability, proving that personalised ticketing can be both efficient and earth-friendly.
The project kicked off in early 2025, with Saracens sharing their vision for plastic-free innovation. Green Gift Cards conducted a rapid feasibility assessment, confirming our paperboard's compatibility with Saracens’ requirements. Once after work and data were provided, this assessment turned into a full production solution within just a few weeks.
The Ricoh Pro C9500™ press that Green Gift Cards helped to develop and bring to market was the obvious choice for this project, and each ticket was printed with crisp, variable elements in under a second per unit, ensuring no delays. Environmental controls were baked in from the start—the biofuel papermill reduced upstream emissions, while the single-pass printing cut energy use by over 50% compared to traditional methods. Within a few weeks, every ticket was en route, ready for seamless integration at StoneX Stadium's turnstiles.
The outcomes speak volumes about the power of sustainable innovation:
|
Metric |
Plastic Tickets (Baseline) |
Paperboard Tickets (Green Gift Cards) |
Improvement |
|
Carbon Emissions |
118 kgCO₂e |
10.51 kgCO₂e |
91% reduction (107 kgCO₂e saved) |
|
Energy Use |
High (multi-stage printing) |
Low (single-pass process) |
50%+ efficiency gain |
|
Waste Generation |
Significant (offcuts & rejects) |
Zero production waste |
100% elimination |
|
End-of-Life |
Difficult to recycle |
Recyclable, biodegradable, compostable |
No specialist processing needed |
|
Personalisation |
Limited scalability |
Full variable data per ticket |
Seamless fan experience |
Using independent verification data from CarbonQuota, we confirmed these gains, positioning Saracens as rugby's sustainability trailblazer. We hope fans will rave about the premium feel and eco-message, boosting engagement and reinforcing the club's community-driven ethos.
"We're thrilled to pioneer plastic-free season tickets, setting a new benchmark for sustainability in rugby. This initiative perfectly aligns with our ambitious ESG and sustainability values, showing how even a small change can drive meaningful collective impact." -
Charlie Beall, CEO, Saracens Rugby Club
"The decision by a globally recognised sporting brand like Saracens to adopt our cards is a powerful statement of environmental responsibility. Saracens is the first in rugby but the latest brand to join an ever-growing list of household names switching from plastic cards to our truly environmentally friendly alternative." -
Graham Lycett, Founder, Green Gift Cards
Saracens' switch to Green Gift Cards isn't just a win for rugby—it's a blueprint for any organisation ready to ditch plastic without compromising quality or convenience. As climate action becomes non-negotiable, our certified solutions empower brands to lead with purpose, turning everyday items like tickets into catalysts for change.
Ready to make your mark?
Contact Green Gift Cards today (https://greengiftcards.co.uk/contact) to explore how we can deliver sustainable card solutions tailored to your needs—whether for loyalty programmes, gift cards, or beyond.
Greener
Compostable and recyclable
Cheaper
Save up to 40% compared to plastic
Quicker
Turnaround average 20 working days
Introducing our range of plastic-free cards
Since 2006 we have been innovating and disrupting in the card market to develop what is a leading range of environmentally-friendly card solutions. So what sets us apart?
Well that’s the thing, there’s a number of reasons why Green Gift Cards are renowned in the world of card production. It is the material we use for our cards and the certification that the cards come with. It is also the compelling environmental story (we urge you to watch the video) that is behind all of our cards and the fact that, once finished with, our cards are compostable and can be recycled in normal household waste streams. Oh and we’ll say it again – being environmentally-friendly doesn’t mean they are more expensive. In fact they offer great value compared to plastic cards.
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