WLTH and Parley for the Oceans release first of its kind upcycled Ocean Plastic® VISA card in the Australian market

Today, digital lending and payments ‘non-bank’ WLTH announced the launch of the WLTH Parley Ocean Card made of Parley Ocean Plastic®. These cards are exclusively available to WLTH customers based in Australia.

Developed with Giesecke+Devrient [G&D], a limited release 45,000 eco-innovative Visa cards were produced from plastic waste [primarily water bottles] that are collected, cleaned, processed, and manufactured into plastic sheets which G+D then uses to construct payment cards.

All layers in the card body made of Parley Ocean Plastic® contain 80% of recycled plastic as an alternative to virgin PVC (polyvinylchloride). The external overlays are made from recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate), and the remaining layers (75%) of the card are from upcycled marine debris collected from the global coastlines and communities.

WLTH customers will be able to directly access their personal mortgage offset accounts through the card making their day-to-day life easier.

“For us, this card is not only the solution, but it’s also a symbolic strategy. We have a hundred percent eco and sustainable card – from the packaging, to the envelope, to even the glues being plastic-free, and of course to the card itself and the design,” said WLTH CEO and Co-founder Brodie Haupt. “Our customers are becoming more socially conscious and we are empowering them to be more involved in protecting the environment.”

“Consumers are looking for new ways to live a more sustainable lifestyle. That’s why we offer banks our eco-innovative payment cards. They remind consumers every day of their own and their bank’s environmental commitment to protecting the planet,” added Dr Wengel.

“Everyone has the power to demand change and take action to help create it, but it’s on industry leaders to own the responsibility of bringing new and better options into reality. The keys are collaboration and eco-innovation,” says Cyrill Gutsch, CEO and Founder, Parley for the Oceans.

WLTH has also pledged to clean up 50m² of beach and coastline for every settled loan, further proving their passion for preserving and protecting Australian waters. WLTH’s partnership with Parley provides an innovative lending solution that gives customers the knowledge that they are helping to prevent marine plastic pollution across Australia and protecting the ocean’s wildlife.

“Our partnership with Parley is to really raise awareness that the issue is currently present. I think it’s up to us as business leaders to take charge and take control of the issue,” said WLTH Co-founder Drew Haupt.

WLTH and Parley’s partnership aims to minimise the amount of plastic ending up in the world’s oceans, with over 116 million tonnes of plastic currently making up around 80 percent of marine debris. On average, each Australian uses 130kg of plastic annually, with less than 12 percent of this plastic ending up recycled, according to WWF Australia.

Late last year, the WLTH team and Parley for the Oceans embarked on their first voyage to clean up the Whitsundays Islands.

“It kind of shows that not even paradise is safe from what we are doing,” said Christian Miller, Director of Parley Australia.

“For us, we had an opportunity with WLTH to, really from the start of the organisation, choose a purpose that was close to me and also Drew. We grew up by the water sailing, being by the ocean, and probably got exposed to ocean conservation from a really young age,” said CEO Brodie Haupt while on the voyage with Parley.

The second voyage was completed in June 2022 on the coastlines of Cape Bedford and Cape Flattery, some of the worst locations in Australia for marine plastic pollution. The roadmap for further voyages is currently being planned. “We have big plans together with WLTH and Parley here in Australia, and we’re going to be a lot louder, and we’re going to be a lot more active. Even more so important now, is that we can partner with WLTH and make a big impact,” said Miller.