Plastic gift cards are ruining the planet?

Plastic gift cards are the number 1 gifting request for 15 years running. Canadians throw away 3 million tonnes of plastic waste a year.

One option is to get rid of gift cards altogether. Why not? There was a time, back in the day, when we didn’t have gift cards and, if you can imagine, we survived! In fact, we thrived! Think of the industrial revolution and how well that worked out – nary a gift card in sight! Well, that was then and this is now. Many things didn’t exist – until they did.
When using the “just get rid of it” logic, cases could be made for getting rid of multiple things that are destructive environmentally.
Landfills are chalk full of old appliances, modems, motors and everything else you can think of. Should we also get rid of microwaves, computers, cars and revert back to starting fires to cook, scratching stories on walls for entertainment and saddling horses in order to commute?

No, gift cards, like many modern conveniences, are here to stay. We just need to try to counteract their destructive impact to the environment. Important to both consumers as well as retailers, gift cards are a thoughtful as well as desirable gifting option and a billion dollar a year industry in North America. We need to consider other alternatives…