Bank of America, the multinational investment bank and financial services company, announced the transition to recycled plastic for all plastic credit and debit cards. Beginning in 2023, the company will use 80 per cent recycled plastic.

Bank of America is the first U.S. bank to announce the transition to renewed or recycled plastic for debit and credit card products. The initiative taken by the company is to reduce single-use plastic in its supply chain. It will also reduce the environmental impact of plastic cards issued by the company, encourage its efforts to achieve sustainability, and include low-carbon solutions.

According to market research by Escalent, over 70 per cent of consumers and clients give importance to environmental sustainability and wish to include it in their businesses. Almost 70 per cent are interested in having recycled debit and credit card products.

Mary Hines Droesch, head of Consumer and Small Business Products at Bank of America, said: "Shifting to a recycled card product is another step toward a more sustainable solution which will help foster a circular economy. We are committed to incorporating sustainability throughout our business.”

Every year, Bank of America issues around 54 million consumer and commercial cards, and this initiative will help the company avoid over 235 tonnes of single-use plastic. It also expects that the transition to recycled plastic cards will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy and water usage. The company has been offering digital debit cards since 2019.

Robin Growley, Consumer Deposit Payments and Products executive at Bank of America, said: "Bank of America offers a digital card for debit which clients can instantly create when they open an account or when they need a card replacement. The digital card further helps reduce our clients’ reliance on plastic."