Abstract
Approximately 6 billion credit cards are produced each year, primarily out of PVC, and almost none of these cards are recycled. The small size of the cards make it hard for recycling companies to process. Not to mention the embedded components including the ICC chip and the magnetic strip cannot be recycled while still attached to the card. The cards that end up in the landfill are detrimental to the surrounding ecology as heavy metals from the card components leech into the neighbouring environments. In addition to this, the fear of disclosing personal information hinders the disposal process.
This new card design allows the magnetic strip to be peeled away and the ICC Chip to be snapped and removed leaving just the PVC body behind. This PVC can now be recycled into more cards. The same modular principle can also be applied to hotel keycards which are replaced yearly. This new recovery system is set up in collaboration with the banks and hotels to have the most tangible impact. This collaboration would allow customers to return their expired cards directly to the source thereby safeguarding personal data and establishing trust. If successful this new system could recover over 480 million dollars annually.
Prototyping
A prototype for the potential card redesign was developed using a modular approach. The goal was to enable the separation of materials and components, allowing different parts of the card to be recycled independently.
For bank cards, the design focused on prefabricated elements that enable easy unsnapping of components. This allows for silicon, germanium, metal oxides, and other embedded materials to be separated efficiently. Smart labels and Magnetic strips could be peeled away, leaving only the PVC material, which could then be upcycled.
Similarly, hotel key cards were redesigned as RFID chip sleeves with pre-indented sections. These indentations facilitate easy snap separation, allowing the chip to be removed and the remaining materials to be recycled appropriately.
The images below illustrate the final iterations of the design process, the testing prototypes, and the proposed steps for component and material separation.
Service Flow
A circular service flow was designed to facilitate the recovery and recycling process. Leveraging the properties of PVC, which allow it to be remolded and recycled into new products, the goal was to meet material requirements through a recollection and resupply program using existing products. Sensitive components could be extracted and securely managed by the organizations producing them, enabling the development of new products within the same material lifecycle (see image 1). A win-win in terms of both monetary and sustainability metrics.
A mini card shredder device was developed to enable granulation at the individual household level (see image 2). The next step in this concept involved providing individuals with a DIY toolkit that would allow them to upcycle PVC-based materials from household sources into useful products through a small-scale granulation and molding process.
