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Months of research and development took place at the Swiss Wood Solutions workshop in Dübendorf; now it’s ready: according to CEO Oliver Kläusler, the world’s first wooden credit card. It is biodegradable, except for the built-in copper antenna and chip. These metal parts would have to be separated in recycling, then the card would have to be compostable. Now the young company, supported by the start-up ETH Zurich and EMPA, can present the first working prototypes.
“The goal is that we can offer as many types of wood as possible,” says Oliver Kläusler. Compared to 10vor10, it features samples of sycamore, oak and cherry. And it shows how such a credit card is made of wood: thin sheets of maple veneer, for example, are soaked in liquid and extremely compacted in a press. Then the layers are glued and pressed again. In addition to a copper antenna, a chip is also installed and the letters are engraved with a laser.
Challenges of strength and elasticity
“The difficult thing for us is that we have to adjust and modify the wood in such a way that it works precisely for this application area, that it has the strength and elasticity to use the card for two to four years,” says Oliver Kläusler.
Timothy Wittmer and Fabian Keller came up with the idea for the wooden credit card. He works as a product or innovation manager at Zürcher Kantonalbank. With Swiss Wood Solutions they found the right producer.
When we go into series production, our goal is really that the part can be grounded and completely degradable.
“In our case, tens of thousands of cards are renewed each year, and we believe there is great potential to gradually replace plastic cards with wooden cards,” says Timothy Wittmer. And Fabian Keller adds: “When we go into series production, our goal is really that the part can be embedded in the ground and that it is completely degradable.”
The effect on the environment is still small
The lab-scale production was examined by the Myclimate Foundation for its greenhouse gas balance: wooden card versus plastic card made of PVC. “We have seen the greenhouse gas balance of a wooden card perform as well or as badly as a PVC card,” says Roland Steiner, director of advisory and solutions projects at Myclimate.
The greenhouse gas balance of the wooden card scores as good or as bad as a PVC card.
This is surprising at first glance, but is due to the fact that the production of the wooden card consumes much more energy. The crude is in the power supply for the wooden card and directly on the card for the PVC card.
“We will surely exceed the supply of plastic there”
Oliver Kläusler from Swiss Wood Solutions doesn’t care, because today’s small-scale production cannot be compared to the large-scale production of PCV cards. “We are already on par today. That means if we also scale to a similar scale in the future then we can claim considerable ecological advantages. “According to Kläusler, for example, when it comes to the flow of energy and materials, and he is sure that his cards are an environmentally friendly thing. : “We will surely outperform PVC card offerings there.”
A small series of wooden credit cards of up to 1000 pieces will be produced next year. Zürcher Kantonalbank hopes that other banks will join the project. The potential is great: around 22 million credit, debit and electronic money cards are in circulation in Switzerland.
