Not sure if this is possible - but would be awesome if you could make bank cards out of metal/bamboo or another more sustainable material. I have seen other banks offering metal cards, but primarily because they are trying to offer a “premium” product.
I know debit cards are not single use but I imagine the 30+ I have got through so far in my life are still in landfill somewhere.
I like this idea!
I literally just posted on a similar vein:
Very nice idea.
My girlfriend and I have gone through two in the space of 9months upgrading to 
. I’m about to replace my card too as it’s poor quality.
I wonder what the difference in unit cost is of producing a metal/bamboo card vs plastic
In all the other threads on metal cards we’ve looked into the possible environmental impact and i think they come off worse, certainly in terms of energy requirements to produce etc.
Could be cool if Monzo could offer the option to not order a bank card when signing up or when you’re due a new card (expired, damaged, new design etc). That way if you’re someone (including me), who only uses mobile payments, then you don’t need to worry about the card 
I can see how metal is energy intensive and therefore not much better. Something like bamboo could be interesting. The unit cost of a bamboo toothbrush is not much more than $0.10 bought wholesale.
I’d probably want it to be recycled plastics before using bamboo. Although bamboo is strong and resistant to a lot of things for a card that’s suppose to last a few years, it can fall apart or break easier, however getting chip details between bamboo would an interesting process 
Overall though something like I mentioned above where they give an option to not have a physical card or a partnership with a company like Parley to used recycled plastics in a card would be more beneficial so in the mean time we’re not using new resources but breaking down and recycle the waste that is already present 
I still want a lead card:
Or one made out of bacon 
, I’m not fussy 
Same for me too.
By harvesting more bamboo you’re just shifting the same “destructiveness” problem elsewhere.
yep, exactly
Or a contactless card made out of RFID resistant material to stop the skimmers! Why hasn’t anyone thought of that before? 
Gosh don’t you know by now how much the meat industry pollutes the world, sheesh 
Or cards that are dissolvable in water.
I amaze myself sometimes with my genius 
Maybe lace them with Vitamin C so it adds nutritional value to the mugging experience.
Negatives - trauma from mugging
Positives - avoided scurvy
Is the premise with bamboo not that it can be regrown incredibly quickly and is biodegradable? Less destructing, more harvesting.
And doesn’t require pesticides to grow
I now want a bamboo card. It might attract wild Panda’s to gather round my purse as well 
alternative solution to the mugging issues?
(Requesting new card)
“Reason?”
(Card damaged)
“Details of damage?”
(Slow typing)
“P-a-n-d-a–a-t-e–i-t”
You mean like Revolut do? 
Every time that panda got close to a contactless terminal (as pandas are prone to do) it would end up paying for other people’s shopping