CPI Card Group to Pilot Environmentally Friendly Contactless Card

Payments technology company CPI Card Group is now accepting orders from issuers to start piloting a contactless card with new chip technology that expands payment card design options and reduces environmental impacts.

The cards feature Infineon’s new SECORA Pay Green contactless payment card technology and are already in CPI’s in-house inventory, as it began manufacturing sample cards in September, CPI said in a Wednesday (Oct. 16) press release.

The all-in-one technology has an integrated chip and antenna, according to the release. It allows card manufacturers like CPI to offer options for card shape, colored core, clear cards and eco-focused materials.

“SECORA’s Pay Green advances the way cards are built today,” Toni Thompson, executive vice president of debit and credit solutions for CPI, said in the release. “With this new all-in-one technology, we are ready to provide even more tailored solutions to meet our customers’ goals.”

Infineon announced the launch of SECORA Pay Green in a Wednesday press release, saying it is collaborating with major card manufacturers and payment schemes worldwide to prepare for mass production of cards equipped with this technology.

Conventional payment cards require embedding a separate copper wire antenna and various material layers spanning the entire card, making it difficult to recycle the card, according to the release.

SECORA Pay Green, on the other hand, allows the complete coil-on-module package to be removed so that the card body can be recycled, per the release.

“By reducing CO2 emissions and enabling easier recycling, we’re empowering financial institutions and card issuers to positively impact the environment while meeting customers’ increasing demands for eco-friendly solutions,” Thomas Rosteck, division president of connected secure systems at Infineon, said in the release.

It was reported in June 2020 that a CPI survey found that 73% of respondents want their financial institutions to be environmentally conscious and that 57% said they would be interested in a new card made with recycled materials.

In another, separate move, Mastercard said in April 2023 that it was speeding up its efforts to remove “first-use” PVC plastics from its payment card by 2028. Beginning Jan. 1, 2028, all the company’s new plastic payment cards will be made from more sustainable materials.