Treecard’s ironic challenge: pay with a wooden debit card to help reforest around the world

Ecosia has invested £1 million for a 20% stake in TreeCard, a wooden payment card that channels profits from merchant surcharges into reforestation programmes, according to finextra.com.

TreeCard™ is the free top-up debit card that reforests the planet with your everyday payments. Every $60 spent using the card equates to a new tree. 80% of TreeCard profits will go towards reforestation projects in 38 locations worldwide.

Each card features a unique wood grain and is made from sustainably sourced FSC cherry wood.

„We can produce more than 300,000 cards from the wood of a single tree, so we’ll never need to use more than a few trees to produce all our cards. Our card uses sustainably sourced FSC cherry wood and a core made from recycled plastic bottles,” the company said.

How TreeCard works

TreeCard is a free top-up debit card that uses merchant transaction fees to plant trees. You can use it alongside your regular bank, so you don’t need to switch banks.

„It’s super simple to set up and use. We’ll have an app which lets you track your spending, split bills with friends and, most excitingly, you can monitor how many trees you have planted with your everyday payments. By using your debit card, you’ll grow your very own forest, and you can track your impact with the app,” said Jamie Cox, the founder of TreeCard.

TreeCard also supports Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay, so you can use it as a virtual debit card.

Isn’t it a bit ironic that you use wood for your card?

„We use wood as a step to reduce plastic use. Plastics are extremely damaging for the environment when they are discarded. TreeCard uses only sustainably sourced FSC cherry wood and the plastic used in the core is from recycled bottles. The great part is, we can produce more than 300,000 cards from the wood of a single tree. We will never need to use more than a few trees to produce all of our cards. In return we will reforest millions.” 

Speaking about what are they hoping to achieve over the next year with TreeCard, Jamie Cox said: „We’re looking to get at least 100,000 people on board. We estimate that this would help us fund the planting of six million trees! TreeCard will be launching in the US and a number of EU markets over the next twelve months. We’re also working hard on developing a product that people will love, and that will help us reforest the world together.”

Ecosia has set up a waiting list and expects to begin shipping the first cards in December.

Ecosia (the search engine that plants trees) is the tree planting partner. Over the last 10 years Ecosia has planted more than 100 million trees all over the world.