PCC

The Environment

We believe that PCC has an important contribution to make in reducing the impact to the environment during the manufacture and use of plastic cards. This is particularly relevant as many retailers are now converting their paper based gift vouchers to plastic based gift cards. PCC has made significant investments to make all its manufacturing facilities ISO9001, ISO14001 and FSC compliant.

Achieving these accreditations gives our customers confidence that we are setting standards in the industry for quality and environmental processes. They also give us a great platform to review all aspects of our business and ensure that we are doing as much as we can to reduce waste and energy consumption.

We have extended this philosophy into our product offering and now have a broad range of products that customers can choose from if they want card or paper based products that are more environmentally friendly:

• PET-G Cards (chlorine free)
• Corn Cards (made from a sustainable source and bio-degradeable)
• Bio-degradable PVC
• Chlorine free and recycled paper products for gift card carriers

We are the first card company in the UK to supply Corn Cards and are very pleased to be working with the University of Salford:

“The University of Salford has over 100,000 alumni (graduates), many of whom enjoy continued contact with their alma mater.

“The benefits we offer to our alumni are wide-ranging, for example library borrowing rights, gym membership, theatre discounts and access to our forthcoming online networking space. To access these benefits, graduates need an alumni card, containing their unique ID number.

“In the past, we have issued cardboard cards, personalised by hand. This has become an increasingly resource-heavy, inefficient method. We needed cards that were longer lasting with automated personalisation. We wanted our graduates to feel proud to carry their alumni card.

“The University is committed to sustainability and encourages all staff and students to conserve the planet’s resources. It was therefore important that we identify the ‘greenest’ option that would also meet our needs. After some research, we decided on a corn product that we would test on our 2007 graduates, combining it with a welcome letter and envelope printed on FSC approved paper.

“Only a small number of suppliers were able to offer the corn product and of those who submitted quotations, PCC were the most able to deliver to our requirements, on budget and deadline.

“We are pleased with the look and feel of the new cards and we have already received some positive feedback from alumni. Over time, we plan to roll out the new cards to our whole alumni community.”

Kate Kemp
University of Salford