American Express Partners With Parley To Make Credit Cards From Ocean Plastic

There are so many aspects of our lives that utilize plastic that it often fades into the background. We stop noticing it until we realize there’s a massive island of our plastic debris in the ocean, and that our waste habits are actively killing marine life around the world. While obvious solutions exist, there’s still the question of what to do with plastic that’s already out there. After all, what can we do with it so that it becomes a resource instead of a hazard?

The answer might be sitting in your wallet.

How Many Credit Cards Are There in The World Today?

According to Money Doctor, there were over 8 billion credit cards issued back in the year 2012. Now, if you just took the credit cards printed and issued that year, and laid them out side by side, that would cover 37 square kilometers of ground. Or, put another way, roughly enough physical space to cover Vatican city more than 80 times over.

Imagine if we could leverage all those credit cards (along with all the new ones being printed and issued every year) into a market for recycled ocean plastic. Now stop imagining it, because that’s something that American Express has already done.

Swipe To Make The World a Greener Place?

American Express partnered with Parley to make a credit card that is primarily from recycled ocean plastic, according to Business Wire. While it’s true that American Express credit cards are only a fraction of the total credit cards on the market, the company is providing a platform. By doing its part to make an impact, it’s also putting a new credit card recycling program in place for its members. If other credit card companies followed their example, the overall impact could see some serious changes in just how much plastic waste is still clogging up our oceans and set adrift on our beaches.