Green Gift Cards , the brand from Livewire, is synonymous with paperboard environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic cards, but our innovation goes far beyond this. I still maintain that switching from plastic to paperboard is probably the simplest single action a brand can take today to demonstrate that they care about their impact and take responsibility. Afterall paperboard cards are good enough for some of the biggest brands in the world, consumers get it, the media get it, why, when there are so many providers in this space now do brands still opt for plastic?

So, beyond gift cards, what else can we do to help our industry reduce our plastic consumption and carbon footprint throughout our businesses?

As an organisation, we have always looked to innovate and push the boundaries, and today we are doing this more than ever. For example, the use of plastic cards for staff ID, access control, security passes, hotel key cards etc., globally rely on the same little white plastic cards that underpinned the gift card industry for so many years. The volume of plastic cards produced to service this on-demand desktop printing industry dwarfs the number of gift cards produced annually around the globe, which is why we turned our attention to this problem two years ago.

We have now developed a solution for almost every type of plastic card for every type of printing application. This covers digital, litho, and now dye sublimation and includes contactless technology – all 100% plastic-free. We can supply the consumable white cards, pre-printed ready for desktop overprinting and even in sheet form for the printing industry. We really are trying to provide a solution for everyone that will help to significantly reduce the number of plastic cards that don’t need to be plastic – most of these little cards spend their lives in purses and wallets or are cocooned in an ID cardholder.

We are also working to close the loop on the plastic card problem through a new scientific approach to managing plastic waste safely that allows us to truly recycle and reuse the constituent ingredients that makeup plastic. Through a unique treatment, we turn the cards into Graphite that can then be used in new technologies and applications that replace the need for yet more new carbon-based raw materials. This solution offers a way to do more with plastic waste than just making more plastic.

As an organisation, we are also on our own B-Corp journey, so we are looking inward at improving efficiencies and reducing our operational impact.