Mastercard to remove first-use PVC plastics from payment cards by 2028

It will instead use recycled or bio-sourced plastics, the payments company said.

Mastercard is ditching first-use, PVC plastics from the payment cards on its network in five years’ time.

From 1 January 2028, all of the payment network’s newly produced cards will be made from more sustainable materials, Mastercard said. These materials include recycled or bio-sourced plastics such as rPVC, rPET, or PLA.

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“With this sustainable card effort, Mastercard is bringing its global network of banks, financial institutions and consumers – who collectively hold more than 3 billion Mastercard cards – together to build a greener payments sector through collaboration and partnership,” said Sandeep Malhotra, executive vice president, products & innovation, APAC, Mastercard.

Mastercard first launched the Sustainable Card Program in 2018. Since then, over 330 issuers across 80 markets have voluntarily signed up, of which 90 issues are from 15 markets from across the APAC region.