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Halloween has come and gone (even if the candy-induced stomach aches linger), and November 1 marks the official beginning of the holiday shopping season. Stores are plastered in giant cardboard present cut-outs, sale signs have gone up, and every available surface is covered in red and green. As you head out to do your shopping, there are eco-friendly choices you can make, even if all you're picking up is a gift card.
Many gift cards are made using PVC, which is difficult to recycle, so they usually end up in dumps where they take decades to break down. Nearly 8.4 billion plastic cards were produced in North America alone in 2006, according to the International Card Manufacturers Association, and all those cards add up to a whole lot of waste.
Some companies, including Best Buy, have recycling programs for their gift cards, but the bioplastic made from the starches in corn, potatoes and other foods are taking a bite out of the PVC market. This eco-friendly solution to petroleum-based plastics isn't perfect (bioplastics use food sources, and they have to decompose in specific conditions) but it is an option that doesn't release carcinogens into the air during production, and if controlled, recycling is possible.
Companies across North America have jumped on board. Last December, Target's full line of holiday gift cards were made with Mirel bioplastic and stocked in all of the retailer's 1,600 stores.
One Canadian retailer went even further. The Hudson's Bay Company introduced corn-based plastic Bay gift cards earlier this year, bumping up the eco-value with an added feature: the recycled paper card carriers (or envelopes) printed with vegetable dyes have been embedded with wildflower seeds—so even after the money's dried up, a little earth and water sprouts a bonus, air-filtering gift.
Greening your gift cards:
When you're shopping this holiday season, there are a few things you can do to make your shopping eco-friendly.
- Purchase bioplastic gift cards wherever possible—if you don't know what they're made from, ask!
- Ask companies if they recycle redeemed gift cards, and if they don't, recycle the cards yourself.
- Purchase re-loadable gift cards to cut down on the number of cards in circulation.
- Find inventive ways to repurpose gift cards: cut up cards and make a mosaic on cork for a unique coaster, or keep a couple in your backpack for impromptu bookmarks when you're headed to the library.
- If you're buying for an online shopper, consider getting a virtual gift card—same gift, zero waste!
Cara Smusiak writes on behalf of NaturallySavvy.com about how to live a more natural, organic and green lifestyle.
Read more about green consumerism:
Stretch Your Shopping Budget with Companies that Give Back
Go Green Shopping at Target?
Shop Green and Earn Carbon Offsets
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