Though efforts are underway to try and tackle the plastic waste problem – from cleaning up floating plastic for reuse to cutting back on single use packaging in stores – the growing number of heart-wrenching images of vast islands of floating waste plastic available online show that there is still much to be done. Yet many of us carry around slim slabs of plastic in our wallets and purses, and when a credit card expires it can end up adding to the waste mountains. American Express has announced a collaboration with Parley to create the first credit card made mostly from ocean plastic.
The new Amex card will be made using marine plastic pollution recovered from the oceans and coastlines. It's currently in prototyping, where it will undergo testing and refinement ahead of expected roll-out some time over the next 12 months.
American Express has also committed to reduce single use plastic within its organization, such as plastic straws and coffee stirrers in its major offices, and intercept plastic waste before it enters the environment. Single use plastic will be phased out in Centurion airport lounges by the end of the year, too.
And the company isn't stopping there. Other green initiatives being undertaken include powering all of its US data centers and its New York headquarters using renewable energy sources and having all of its employee business travel carbon neutral by 2021.
Sources: American Express, Parley
