Unfit Banknote Recycling Solutions – a Study from Kusters

Last month, we featured a summary of the recently published white paper ‘What Goes Round Comes Round’ by Reconnaissance, based on a survey of 52 banks which examined the end-of life options for cotton banknotes. The topic of repurposing banknotes formed one of the sessions at the Cash & Payments Sustainability Forum in Edinburgh, with Royal Dutch Kusters Engineering (Kusters) also presenting its work in this area.

This month, we feature that work, involving a survey by Kusters among central banks and printing works in 82 countries worldwide. The investigation related to the method of disposal of the unfit banknotes once removed from circulation and destroyed. The big question being what is then done with the destroyed notes, since there are several methods of disposal.