PLASTIC passbook wallets are being removed from all 88 branches of Skipton Building Society as part of the Plastic Free July initiative.

The Society will remove the current wallets, made of 60 per cent raw plastic, as part of its stretching sustainability targets. Instead it will be switching to a sustainable card alternative, made of 100 per cent recycled material and fully recyclable, will save around one-ton of plastic over a decade, the weight of a small car.

The new card wallets are already being rolled out into all of Skipton’s UK branches.

Stacey Dickens, Head of Sustainability at Skipton, said: “We know that small changes really do add up. At Skipton we’re investing in changes large and small so we can play our part in helping make our Society greener while reducing the impact of our operations on the planet.

As part of Skipton’s efforts the Society has also diverted 99 per cent of its waste from landfill and removed over 19,000 sheets of paper and over 4,800 envelops from annual operations become carbon neutral for its direct emissions through a combination of ensuring better energy efficiency, a programme of carbon reduction, and participation in carbon offsetting through investment in a certified reforestation project in Tanzania.