Mastercard Wants to Collect Your Expired Credit Cards to Recycle—Partnerships On the Way

A new initiative from Mastercard is looking to promote sustainability and environmental care, particularly as the company is now asking the public for their old, expired plastic credit cards to be given to them instead of thrown out. Mastercard's initiative looks at a pilot program that will extend for up to six months initially, with the global project looking to collect these plastic items.

It would not matter what bank they are from, as Mastercard would shred the plastic for its repurposing of other cards, and the gold chips to also be segregated for another purpose.

Mastercard Wants to Collect Your Expired Cards for Recycling

If you have begun cleaning up and seeing old cards in your possession, looking to throw them away, STOP.

Mastercard has announced that it is looking to ramp up its recycling efforts by taking these plastic credit or debit cards off your hands, to collect billions of cards that are currently in circulation.

The goal is to reduce the plastic waste that is supposed to go into landfills or dumps, taking the extra step of acquiring this from owners who have no use for it anymore.

Its initiative will go on a pilot project that will collect it from the public for six months, with Mastercard looking to shred the plastic and have them repurposed for new applications. The company also claimed that the gold chips found in cards will be melted and turned into other products.

Mastercard Aims to Partner with Other Companies for This

CNET reported that Mastercard has already partnered with HSBC with this initiative, providing them with shredding machines to be used for the recycling process. It has a capacity of 50 kilograms worth of shredded plastic.

When it reaches its max capacity, it will be brought to Mastercard's recycling facility.

Mastercard is also inviting all banks to take part in this initiative to help reduce the waste that plastic cards bring to landfills and no longer have a purpose once thrown out.

Recycling and Reusing Efforts Now

Recycling has been a massive initiative from different companies and the government for a long time now, with schools highlighting its importance to teach many generations about why it is integral to do so. Several brands have looked into committing to recycling already, and one is Coca-Cola with its 2030 goals of cutting package waste.

The growing problem of waste filling up dumps and landfills is massive, especially as there is more that comes in every day than what was it designed to handle.

Still, there are initiatives for recycling, with plastics remaining as the top pollutant in the environment, with researchers also looking to decompose it using bacteria.

These actions may be part of companies' sustainable efforts for the home planet, but it remains important ones that may help address massive problems that need answering. Mastercard's efforts aim to reduce more of the plastic that makes its way to landfills, especially for those who are throwing out expired credit cards when cleaning up.