In 2020, environmentally friendly search engine Ecosia bought a 20% stake in wooden debit card company TreeCard, under an agreement that will see 80% of the latter’s profits invested in Ecosia’s reforestation projects.
The TreeCards themselves are made from FSC-certified cherry wood in a partnership with Mastercard. So not only are the cards a sustainable alternative to the ubiquitous plastic debit card, but users are effectively planting trees when they make purchases using the cards thanks to the tie-in with Ecosia.
The cards, which consumers can sign up for by joining a waiting list online, will have a core containing the banking technology that is made from recycled plastic bottles. The company says only one tree is needed to make 300,000 cards, so a minimal number of trees will ever be used.
Ecosia says $60 worth of purchases on the card will translate into enough investment (80% of the fee that Mastercard receives for the transactions) to plant one tree. This is an interesting way to offset consumerism with tree planting, as well as an innovation in the plastic-dominated world of bank cards.
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In 2020, environmentally friendly search engine Ecosia bought a 20% stake in wooden debit card company TreeCard, under an agreement that will see 80% of the latter’s profits invested in Ecosia’s reforestation projects.
The TreeCards themselves are made from FSC-certified cherry wood in a partnership with Mastercard. So not only are the cards a sustainable alternative to the ubiquitous plastic debit card, but users are effectively planting trees when they make purchases using the cards thanks to the tie-in with Ecosia.
The cards, which consumers can sign up for by joining a waiting list online, will have a core containing the banking technology that is made from recycled plastic bottles. The company says only one tree is needed to make 300,000 cards, so a minimal number of trees will ever be used.
Ecosia says $60 worth of purchases on the card will translate into enough investment (80% of the fee that Mastercard receives for the transactions) to plant one tree. This is an interesting way to offset consumerism with tree planting, as well as an innovation in the plastic-dominated world of bank cards.