Comments on: How can I reuse or recycle … old plastic (credit) cards?

By: Alexis

Alexis — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:20:44 +0000

You can send them to me! I actually upcycle them into great jewelry! Please jump on over to my online shop – http://www.JumpingDog.artfire.com to see some of my work. You can also see my latest creations (I’m ramping up for a big artshow soon) at http://www.facebook.com/JumpingDog . All of my cards are used, even if I covet one on the shelf, I just wait until someone gives me a used one. The parts that I don’t use, I take to my closest Starbucks & they dump it all into the box that they are sending to be recycled. The best part is that all of my profits go to the nonprofit http://www.GraydonSprings.org – we are going to purchase & revitalize a beautiful property in the Ozarks into a year-round facility in a sustainable, earth-friendly way.

Earthworks is a great recycling company as stated in another comment article. I have sent them there before. But, now that I have teamed up with this Starbucks, I don’t have to spend $$ on shipping. They send theirs to a recycling company in Michigan. This is good news to my ears, because this means there are more recyclers in the USA! Yay!

By: ruth

ruth — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 20:26:29 +0000

Cut the four corners flat from at different sizes. discard the cut corner and use the credit card to wipe off excess caulkin when redoing your plumbing. They sell a little square tool for over $20 bux specifically for cleaning excess caulk, but why buy when you can make your own?

By: diego

diego — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 23:12:23 +0000

I saw this post on 8 cool ways to reuse credit cards. My favorite is using them to organize electronics cables:
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/8-crafty-ways-recycle-reuse-credit-cards-1273.php

By: max s

max s — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 13:00:48 +0000

Run a magnet over the metalic strip at the back. A rare earth magnet (from inside an old computer hard drive) is pretty strong.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Sun, 09 May 2010 21:45:19 +0000

I had a Waterstone book token plastic card. I have now made this into three book marks… the type that attach over the page. It looks good as the front has pictures of book covers.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 02:18:49 +0000

just becareful your children may put them in their mouth.. the chemical of the plastic could comes off.
the bank card is made out of PVC plastic
It is one of the worst plastic to absorb into our body.

By: Nastia

Nastia — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 22:53:13 +0000

Spread the glue or caulking and such.

By: cards

cards — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:19:03 +0000

recycling of plastic cards

By: Bobbie

Bobbie — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:14:12 +0000

I use old cards when cleaning pots and pans as a scraper to get hard, dry food off. You would be amazed at how well it works. No more soaking for hours.

By: Zoe V.

Zoe V. — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:38:14 +0000

There is a much better way to dispose credit cards than cutting them up and throwing in the trash. They are made of PVC, a toxic plastic that is not recyclable or biodegradable. A much more environment-friendly option is to donate useless plastic cards to EarthWorks http://www.earthworkssystem.com/index.html. Earthworks exclusive proprietary process uses 100% recycled PVC to create durable stock in a variety of sizes, widths, and colors. The recycled material is 100% American made and indistinguishable from conventional plastic in both reliability and functionality.

For more information, read my blog “Wait! Don’t cut up that credit card!” http://zoevblog.com/2009/09/16/wait-dont-cut-that-credit-card/.

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:58:39 +0000

Shred and add to plastic town recycling. Having someone steal your information is a nightmare. Expired cards still contain your data (name, account info, etc) Just because you can’t use it at the store, doesn’t mean a hacker can’t retrieve your information from the strip on the back.

By: Lizzy

Lizzy — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:44:45 +0000

cut little slots and make a comb?

By: Andy Walker

Andy Walker — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:52:21 +0000

Oh Louisa… we meet again ;-) xx

By: louisa

louisa — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:42:13 +0000

Reusing is generally considered better for the environment than recycling – recycling is often surprisingly resource intensive and when you reuse something for another purpose, you’re often reducing what you need to buy new: eg, the person using their old credit card as a shoehorn doesn’t need a shoehorn now.

Plus, if the plastic *can* be recycle (and some can’t be), there is nothing to say it has to go to landfill at the end of their reuse. That credit card shoehorn, credit card poker chips, a counter top scraper – all of those things could be just as easily recycled after being used for the second purpose for a couple of years as they could as soon as the card expires.

By: Just A. Comment

Just A. Comment — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:26:34 +0000

but how about a solution/suggestion that is really recycling and getting the plastic back into the stream. all these suggestions, while some are interesting, are merely repurposing and the plastic will still ultimately end up in the landfill.

By: sara

sara — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:04:18 +0000

This sounds strange, but i use mine for smoothing down strips while body waxing. If you end up throwing out, maybe cut them in half first?

By: Vicky

Vicky — Sat, 17 May 2008 16:05:59 +0000

You won’t believe this but credit cards are great for using to use like tiles for a mosaic. I actually saw a pool that the owner had used thousands of old credit and debbit cards to tile it. You may want to stick with trivets.

By: sfcupatea

sfcupatea — Sat, 17 May 2008 06:33:30 +0000

hmm.. gives me good ideas.. if you have a ton, cut them into similar shapes and use for poker chips???

By: caro

caro — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 01:51:46 +0000

I cut the logo off and Barbie has a Visa :-)

By: chris

chris — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 17:53:01 +0000

I use them for making sculpture, smoothing down a clay surface or cutting groves in to make a textured surface.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 02:08:15 +0000

After scraching your number and detales of the card you can give them to children for playing shopping.

By: Cory

Cory — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 23:17:17 +0000

I cut up my old credit cards and use the cut out pieces as guitar picks. You can get a half doezen picks out of one card, and they are durable too!

By: Pietro

Pietro — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 18:36:05 +0000

Knives. Now that you cannot bring even a plastic knife on a plane, you still need something to cut food with. Last time I used a credit card to cut some cheese.

NOTE: some people might want to wash it before…

By: nancy

nancy — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 01:22:44 +0000

I use them to clean kitchen counter tops
of dried sticky spills

By: Alison

Alison — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 22:42:00 +0000

I use an old card as a shoehorn.

By: Amy

Amy — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 06:32:01 +0000

I give them to my four-year old. She puts them in her play purse and uses them when she play “shops”.

By: Diana

Diana — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 12:08:34 +0000

I have seen old plastic bags melted together into placemats of mug mats, could credit cards be melted too?

By: everyday trash

everyday trash — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 06:31:44 +0000

In junior high I used to wear earrings made from old bank cards. But the tiny book idea is so much cuter!

By: Lauren

Lauren — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 20:55:31 +0000

I saw someone make teeny little notebooks from them, and I've seen earrings made from shaped bits of credit card. I have a stash of old cards for just such crafts, but I guess I'm waiting to see if I can come up with something more clever. Can't wait to see the other ideas here!

By: James

James — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 21:21:11 +0000

I’ve received a suggestion to use them as shims, especially for the promotional cards that don’t work for actual transactions.