Sustainability – Essential to Banknote Design

Biobanknote has spent 12 years focusing on the protection of the environment, building expert knowledge about composting banknotes, and offers professional advisory services to central banks and producers helping them set banknote specification parameters, measurement methodologies, controls and evaluations so that the new banknotes can be more sustainable throughout the cash cycle.

In this context it has written a paper summarised here, outlining how central banks and producers can design in sustainability from the beginning.

Disposal of unfit banknotes

One of the main functions of central banks is to issue banknotes to enable the transactions required by the economy.

This function starts with defining the currency structure, including establishing what banknote and coin denominations are required and where the coin-note boundary should be. Then the central bank decides how many notes are required per denomination. Some central banks are also responsible for coins, but this article concentrates on banknotes.

Cash is normally distributed through the central bank’s own branches, commercial banks and cash in transit companies (CIT), to cover requirements in all regions of the country. In some countries, the CITs are responsible for partially fulfilling the tasks of checking the fitness and authenticity of the cash in circulation and returning to commercial banks those that are suitable for recirculation.