Bupa has announced plans to move away from plastic in favour of digital membership cards.
The insurer, which last year provided over 1 million plastic cards for members, said the optional change is expected to be taken up by more than half of its members and will save 5,000 kilograms of plastic every year.
According to Sally Damiani, Bupa's director of customer experience, the change is being made in response to customer feedback and to make it easier for people to lodge benefit claims.
“Our customers told us they didn’t want to carry a plastic card,” said Ms Damiani.
“They saw what was happening in other parts of their life and they rightly had the expectation that health insurance should be just as easy.
“This now means that customers can get their cards as soon as they become members and is particularly useful for overseas students who don’t like to rely on post.
“In addition to giving members the benefit of online claiming, reducing manual claims and allowing money to be back in the bank account of customers quicker, this move will also save up to 5,000kg of plastic each year.
“Whilst in the scheme of things 5,000kg is not a significant contribution on the global scale, every bit helps and customers get better service as a result,” she added.