Dark Cloud

It’s estimated that 8 million tonnes of plastics enter our oceans every year, and as much as 80% of marine litter in the oceans is plastic. At the current rate we are dumping items, by 2050, the oceans will carry more plastic mass than fish*.

In Australia alone, there are approximately 14.8 million credit cards in use, which translates to around 74,000kg of PVC (polyvinyl chloride)**, a notoriously difficult-to-recycle material. And of course, there are also debit cards, prepaid cards and gift cards, all of which end up in landfills too. The use-and-toss nature of cards adds an enormous burden to the planet’s collective plastic waste, especially since it doesn’t break down.

The brief

Design a new suite of sustainable banking cards for its customers, moving away from virgin PVC to a recycled plastic (rPET) card.

There are two actions that Bank Australia wanted to take on behalf of its customers:

- minimise the use of new plastics and

- recycle and reuse the plastics that already exist

Silver Lining

Bank Australia partnered with Parley for the Oceans to introduce a new suite of bank cards, offering a more sustainable option for its 300,000 customers. Parley for the Oceans™ upcycle plastic intercepted in areas where mismanaged waste poses a threat to marine life and coastal communities.

Execution

As a customer-owned bank, Bank Australia customers have a voice and a vote on how the bank is run and the issues we take action on. Currently, the top choice for joining Bank Australia is aligning with its values, which benefit people and the planet. Through customer values research, we knew that protecting nature and biodiversity is the second-most important issue for our customers (after acting on climate change*).

The transparency theme works twofold as at the heart of the card is a translucent Bank Australia logo, which also embodies the bank’s values, supported by its sustainable commitments and Responsible Banking Policy.

Several challenges arose due to the material's limitations. Our goal was to achieve translucency and accurate colours while ensuring that the card body, beyond the mandatory functional electronic components, was made predominantly from recycled plastic. Whilst also ensuring that the card remained fully accessible to its customers.

A ‘smartphone-inspired’ portrait design was chosen to frame the card, ensuring a more logical and accurate payment experience using Pay Wave. On the reverse, the card numbers are placed in blocks of three for further legibility and accessibility. Consulting with Vision Australia, all colours and font sizes were certified AAA compliant. Embossed Braille dots were added to distinguish the cards.

Results

This is the first transparent banking card in Australia made from ocean waste.

Housed in your pocket, wallet or in the back of your phone, credit and debit cards are used daily. They are also one of the first and few tangible connections that customers have with their bank. It’s fitting for a B Corp customer-owned bank that listens, investigates, and challenges every part of its supply chain. With customers aligning with Bank Australia for its values and investments that benefit people and planet, the card also says a lot about the person using it daily in public settings.

Let’s be honest. The upcycling and recycling nature of these cards is not solving the issue of excessive plastic waste in the oceans, but it is influencing conscious and subconscious purchasing, business and banking decisions. Although a banking card weighs only 5 grams, the 14.8 million credit cards in use in Australia equate to 74,000 kg of PVC**, a material notoriously difficult to break down.

If more customers expect sustainable banking solutions, then more banks will switch from virgin PVC to recycled materials. If more people see the Bank Australia Parley cards in use, they will become more aware of both the issues involved and more sustainable alternatives. And if they have similar values to a customer-owned bank, they may even switch to a more ethical bank. Banks that don’t fund fossil fuel projects, addictions, weapons of mass destruction or animal cruelty. More businesses partnering with Parley for the Oceans™ will also fund additional beach clean-up projects, ensuring the protection of our oceans' fragility. Fewer virgin PVC cards in circulation means less plastic waste, full stop.

The card's body is made from recycled plastic****, with 64% collected from coastal communities by Parley for the Oceans™.

*2023 Customer Values research

**World Economic Forum, Ellen MacArthur Foundation and McKinsey & Company, The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics (2016).

*** creditcard com au | Can you go green with your credit card

****There are additional materials that need to be applied to be functional for payments and scheme compliant that cannot be sourced from recycled plastic. These include the microchip, antenna, contact plate and associated solder where applicable, magnetic strip and the scheme hologram.