Is a Fully Circular Approach to Banknotes Possible?

At the Banknote & Currency Conference in February, Swiss substrate manufacturer Landqart revealed new research it has been carrying out on how to dispose of banknotes at the end of their life in an environmentally sound way.

Recycling banknotes is a challenge because they contain elements such as taggants, security fibres, foils, threads and inks, all of which would ‘contaminate’ the new banknote substrate they are used to make. As a result, cotton-based banknotes are often burnt in energy recovery furnaces generating electricity.

Landqart recovers as much fibre as it can and, in accordance with Swiss law, supplies what is left to a local incineration/generation facility. That facility then supplies it with steam to heat the drying machines used in the paper making process.