Gift cards are most commonly made from PVC—deemed by Greenpeace to be the most environmentally damaging of all plastics because it is difficult to recycle and because toxic, chlorine-based chemicals are released in the production, use, and disposal of PVCs. When you think of toxic plastics accumulating in our landfills and polluting our environment, plastic gift cards may not immediately come to mind as a significant source of such waste. However, according to Plenty magazine, a staggering 75 million pounds of PVC material from plastic cards enter the waste stream in the United States every year.
That’s 75 million pounds of plastic pollution that could be greatly reduced or eliminated by better decision making during the stages of using, purchasing, and disposing of gift cards.
When using a gift card, in order to increase the shelf-life and reduce the environmental impact of the plastic cards, be sure to reuse your gift cards whenever possible. Many cards can be reloaded and continually used by you or gifted to someone else.
In addition to reloading and re-gifting your cards, you can also reuse old gift cards in a variety of creative ways. From a multitude of crafting projects, to stabilizing a wobbly table leg, to labeling plants in your garden, to organizing yarn, cord, or wires—used gift cards are surprisingly versatile. Check out The Balance Everyday’s 14 Nifty Ways to Reuse Empty Gift Cards and This Old House’s 10 Uses for Gift Cards for a list of creative, innovative, and functional ways to put old, used up, empty gift cards to good use.Additionally, if you get a gift card you’ll likely never use, consider selling or trading it on sites such as Cardavenue, Plastic Jungle, or Swapagift.com, as suggested by Plenty magazine.
Of course, in addition to reusing and re-purposing plastic gift cards, arguably the most important step you can take in combating this form of unnecessary and unsustainable plastic waste is to avoid it altogether by utilizing electronic gift cards whenever possible. Without saying too much, as it involves a gift for someone who consistently reads this blog, just today I ordered a gift card for someone’s birthday. Although my materialistic, capitalism-indoctrinated subconscious hesitated when faced with the choice between sending a physical plastic gift card (something tangible for the recipient to open and hold in their hands) and an e-card that would be delivered via email on the day of their birthday, it was but a slight hesitation.
The e-card, in addition to being less environmentally destructive than its plastic counterpart, is also incredibly convenient. A series of clicks and some quick payment info, and voila!—the gift card is set to be delivered, electronically, on the day I specified.
Utilizing e-gift cards also eliminates a lot of additional waste used in gift / gift card packaging. Although the cute tins and festive cases that gift cards are often delivered in may add some pizzazz and visual appeal to the gift-giving process, this too is ultimately a source of unnecessary waste.
If e-gift cards aren’t an option or simply aren’t your cup of tea, you can still act with the environment’s best interest in mind by seeking biodegradable gift cards when available. Some retailers, including Target, REI, Borders, and Walmart, offer biodegradable gift cards made out of a corn-based material, so be sure to seek these out whenever possible.
As a consumer, you can eliminate plastic waste from PVC gift cards by seeking electronic and biodegradable alternatives. As the recipient of a plastic gift card, your responsibility lies in reusing, reloading, re-gifting, or re-purposing spent plastic cards in addition to disposing of cards that cannot be reused or re-purposed in a responsible manner.
If you’re anything like me, you may have accumulated a truly impressive stack of plastic gift cards over the years. Rather than tossing your spent plastic gift cards into the trash where they will accumulate in landfills, look to recycle these cards (along with the gift packaging they came in). To do so, you can use Earth 911’s recycling locator to find recycling services for gift boxes, plastic cards, and wrapping paper near you.
You can also mail used gift cards to Earthworks System, which collects and recycles used disposable PVC gift cards. They recycle the PVC cards into sheets of plastic which can then be used to manufacture new gift cards, thereby reducing the need for new PVC to be produced.
Cards can be mailed to:Earthworks c/o Halprin Ind.
25840 Miles Rd.
Bedford, Oh 44146
Overall, this week’s exploration into waste reduction of plastic gift cards is another great lesson on reducing, reusing, and recycling. Ultimately, in our ongoing effort to eliminate sources of waste in our everyday life, we should first and foremost reduce the number of plastic gift cards we purchase and circulate by opting for electronic or biodegradable alternatives whenever possible. We should also reuse plastic gift cards we have received by reloading or re-gifting cards whenever possible and by re-purposing or upcycling cards for a variety of crafts and useful purposes. When we do have plastic gift cards we want to dispose of, we should recycle the cards through services like Earthworks.
This week, eliminating waste on our journey toward greener living is most definitely “in the cards.” The next time you use, purchase, or dispose of a gift card, I urge you to keep the tenets of reduce/reuse/recycle in mind and to utilize some of the aforementioned waste-reducing tips and tricks. In the meantime, I’m off to lead some youth through the wilderness, so I won’t be posting for a while. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions of sources of waste for me to cover in the future, let me know in the comments section below.
Until later,
~Sam
