Kuala Lumpur (June 16): France-based IDEMIA, which specialises in augmented identity, has launched the first eco-friendly recycled polyvinyl chloride (PVC) payment card in Asia-Pacific in partnership with RHB Bank Bhd in Malaysia.

In a statement, IDEMIA said RHB had created the RHB Visa WWF Debit Card-i in partnership with the company, WWF-Malaysia and Visa as part of the bank’s efforts towards environmental sustainability.

IDEMIA said it reaffirmed this commitment by moving away from the linear take-make-waste model. 

It said this would save a total mass of 3.18g of industrial waste per finished card. 

IDEMIA said the card had passed all durability testing and is ISO-certified as well as Europay, Mastercard and Visa-compliant.  

The card will be available to all existing RHB customers in Malaysia in July 2020.

Vincent Mouret, senior vice-president of financial institutions in Asia-Pacific at IDEMIA, said IDEMIA was proud to be part of the solution in creating less plastic waste and reducing land and water pollution while optimising the carbon footprint.

"Every single contribution we can make towards a greener world matters," he said.