Smart Solutions for Banknote Destruction from CPS and Hunkeler

Whilst the focus on cash is generally concentrated on substrates and features, production and circulation, the end of life is also key as regards the secure, clean and efficient disposal of both waste and notes no longer fit for circulation.

Billions of notes are destroyed each year. In the past, incineration was the preferred method, but offered little control and resulted in the emission of harmful contaminants from the inks into the air. In recent decades, destruction has been undertaken through shredding and granulation, with the output either sent to landfill or, increasingly, recycled into industrial products.

Two companies that are active in the field of banknote destruction are Swiss-based Hunkeler Systeme, specialists in waste disposal and secure shredding systems, and Cash Processing Solutions (CPS) of the UK, providers of banknote processing systems. They have now teamed up to offer SmartShred™, a so-called intelligent banknote destruction solution for central banks that offers integrated secure destruction and collection of unfit banknotes through Hunkeler’s technology, underpinned by data-driven control and monitoring from CPS to ensure that the notes are destroyed as securely as they are produced.