THE ENVIRONMENTAL WASTE CAUSED BY GIFT CARDS

The # of plastic gift cards printed in the US gift cards

1.6B
/YR

Plastic required to make those gift cards in plastic

9000 tons

Environmental impact of making the plastic CO2 released

33,260 tons

CO2 released by different causes

Washington DC Power Plants
113
Forest fires in Vermont
75
Gift cards
33
10,000 cars
33
Parliament / Bank of England: 21
Annual CO2 released (thousands of tons)

THE SPREAD

Gift cards don't cause the largest amount of CO2 emissions but the amounts emitted through their production is more than some small towns and many large government buildings.

Perhaps the bigger problem is that the environmental impact of gift cards is so hidden that few people ever really recognize it and allow it to affect their decisions.

LIKE THE DATA VISUALIZATION?

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CHOOSE GIFTROCKET INSTEAD

GiftRockets are online money gifts, with suggestions of where to spend them. They're far more environmentally friendly than traditional gift cards since they are entirely digital.

You can buy a GiftRocket for any business in the USA, including every retailer mentioned above and millions more local businesses.

Send a GiftRocket

SOURCES & METHODOLOGY

1.6 billion plastic gift cards

$80bn US market per year , ~$50 avg gift size = 1.6 billion cards / year

18M tons of PVC

5.07g of PVC per card , 1.6 billion cards x 5.07g = 8.1mm kg

33,260 tons of CO2

21 grams of CO2 per card , 21 grams times 1.6 billion cards = 33,260 metric tons

Car metrics

Average car in the U.S. (25 mpg, 12,000 miles / year) releases around 9,300 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere. 4.2 metric tons of CO2 , = ~9,300 lbs

Other metrics

Parliament and bank of England Info on Power Plant Emissions Forest fires emissions

COMMENTS & THOUGHTS