According to the bank’s research, the UK has created over 380 tonnes of plastic card waste since 2017, equivalent to 211 stampeding elephants. The new machines offer a secure, eco-friendly way to recycle unused plastic cards of which there are 65 million gathering dust in peoples’ homes, or sat idly in their wallets and bags. The machines also accept card readers and plastic bottles for recycling. The first machines will be situated at Victoria Place and Canary Wharf Shopping Centres in London. Two machines will also be placed in Guys and St Thomas’ Hospitals, in partnership with the NHS. In December, Santander began piloting a similar recycling scheme in select UK branches allowing the public to dump expired or unused plastic cards. Alison Rose, CEO, NatWest Group, says: "I urge local commuters, shoppers and passers-by from across London to search their homes for expired plastic cards, and join us in shifting the dial on plastic pollution in the UK’s capital city."