From fuel to bricks to plaster. The second life of worn-out banknotes is taking shape in the Bank of Italy’s green plan: in 2022, as stated in the Bank’s latest environmental balance sheet, 638 tonnes were withdrawn from circulation and reduced to fragments. A figure with a slight increase compared to the previous year, but a very strong decrease compared to the 818 tonnes in 2018.
While electronic money is becoming increasingly popular, reducing the cash in circulation and its once worn-out environmental impact, the theme of the second life of banknotes reduced to fragments finds concreteness in the plans linked to reducing the environmental impact of Bankitalia’s activities.
From 2022, according to the ECB’s indications, the life of worn banknotes must no longer end in landfill. Monetary institutions have developed an increasingly greater sensitivity to the ecological transition and environmental sustainability. Among the many issues, in the latest balance sheet of the Bank of Italy, we read that in 2023 the commitment to the program “to reduce the impact of its activities on the environment through the rational use of energy and natural resources” continued , optimal waste management, sustainable mobility, green purchasing and the promotion of environmental culture.”
The production of shredded worn out banknotes
According to the 2023 environmental balance sheet, it emerges that in 2022 the production of waste consisting of shredded worn-out banknotes increased by 7 percent compared to the previous year. We are talking about a decreasing trend since 2018 when the worn out banknotes to be disposed of were 818 tons, which grew to 852 in 2019, and then began to drop dramatically to 573 in 2020, rising again to 597 in 2021 and then up to 638 in 2022 .
The indications of the ECB
As the environmental balance sheet of the Bank of Italy recalls, the ECB recently revised the criteria relating to the management of waste consisting of shredded banknotes, asking central banks to abandon landfill disposal by 2022. In line with these indications, law in the budget, «from 2023 all waste consisting of worn-out shredded banknotes produced by the Bank will be sent to plants for the production of secondary solid fuel (CSS) or for energy recovery (waste-to-energy), which represent the most suitable treatment methods from environmental point of view”. The Bank calculates that thanks to the transformation into fuel, it was possible to avoid the emission of 37 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
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2024-04-02 23:23:34