Green Daily

It's fun to give and receive gift cards. They're relatively cheap, they don't require much effort or thought, and they don't use a ton of packaging.

But what do you do with them after you've spent them? Most people toss them in the trash, or hand them over to the store clerk, who tosses them in the trash for you. Bad idea: they can contain polyvinyl chloride, a known carcinogen.

Next time, take advantage of Earthworks' Retailer Gift Card Return Program. The recycling and manufacturing company came up with the idea as a way to keep the cards off the landfill.

via [plenty mag]
As an individual card holder, you can mail in as many used cards as you like to this address. But in a Plenty Magazine interview, Earthworks President Rodd Gilbert says that what would be even more helpful is if we all pressured our local chain stores to collect used gift cards and send those in. Already, the company has teamed up with stores like the Gap and Starbucks.

The process itself produces zero waste (another bonus), mainly because no added chemicals are used in the process. Gilbert explains that they chop up and melt down the plastic cards all while saving about 80 percent of the energy it would take to make a brand new card.