Starling rolls out new recycled plastic Mastercard debit card

By Megha Bhattacharya

Digital bank Starling today announced the launch of a recycled plastic debit card. The Bank’s new card is the first UK Mastercard debit card to be made from recycled plastic (rPVC), sourced from EU industrial waste from printing and packaging industries and making up 75% of the card.

According to Starling, existing customers will receive the recycled card when their current one expires and new customers will be issued the card upon joining the bank.

Anne Boden, CEO and founder of Starling Bank said, “The environment is important to our customers, so launching a recycled plastic debit card was the right thing to do. This new card comes with no deterioration in technical quality or capability, it simply supports people in their journey to become more green. We’re proud to be a branchless, paperless bank that runs on renewable energy. And now we’re delighted that we’re building on this with our new recycled cards.”

The rPVC used for the card is drawn from Mastercard’s Sustainable Materials Directory, a directory of sustainable materials and vendors for card products.

Paul Trueman, Senior Vice President, Product Advancement, Cyber & Intelligence at Mastercard said, “We are helping banks like Starling offer more eco-friendly cards to consumers – put simply, it’s better for the environment, it’s better for business and it meets evolving consumer needs. We’re delighted to see Starling making the first move in the UK and to see efforts on sustainability gaining traction across the globe. We hope more organizations will join us, as we collectively use our power for good to address these pressing environmental challenges.”

Starling said that the new rPVC cards will reduce the demand for new plastic production. Each kilo of rPVC will replace its equivalent of new PVC in the market, with two kilos of CO2 being saved for each kilo of the material used. Only 25% of the card is made up of unavoidable non-recycled elements, including the card’s chip and magstripe.

Recently, Starling Bank announced that it has added PayPal’s iZettle to its Business Marketplace. The new development will facilitate the provision of in-depth transaction information to business owners. The integration of iZettle will give SMEs information about sales, fees, tips and taxes.