The new £5 note has received much attention, partly because of its new innovative design and partly because of the materials that make it (mainly the inclusion of animal fats). However, now that the old paper £5 notes are no longer legal tender, what happens to them?
It is estimated that there are over 160 million old £5 notes out there, all of which ceased to be legal tender on 5 May 2017. Add this to the fact that the Bank of England withdraw approximately 700 million notes every year anyway due to the fact the notes become worn, old or dirty, that is a lot of waste to consider.
According to the Bank of England website, until 1990 all old notes were actually incinerated at the Bank of England and the energy generated from doing this was used to heat the bank. However, the Bank of England eventually upgraded its heating system, meaning the notes were no longer burned.
Since 2000, the Bank began to recycle all withdrawn paper notes "using a composting treatment". Since 2011, "All of the Bank's paper note waste has been recycled in this way and used as a soil improver for agriculture".
Whilst the Bank of England has shown an admirable approach to recycling old bank notes, they now face a new challenge; the new £5 and the new £10 note expected later this year both contain polymer. This obviously cannot be recycled in the same way as the old paper notes in those denominations. So, the Bank carried out a Life Cycle Assessment and decided that recycling was still the best approach for disposing of the polymer notes. The Bank has therefore "secured a UK based recycling solution, for polymer notes to be turned into pellets before being transformed into new plastic items such as plant pots".
Next time you see a dirty, torn old note, you can be rest assured that it will end up in a good place.
Considering life cycles.....
Did you know that life cycle perspective is now a consideration of ISO 14001:2015? We understand how daunting it can be trying to get to grips with a new standard, so Cedrec has developed a "Transition Made Simple" workshop to help you transition to ISO 14001:2015.
During this workshop, we'll take you through the whole process required to make those changes, so that at the end of the day, you will have completed all the actions to transition your system. For more information, see our Training page.
