Placeholder canvas
My Green Pod Logo

Paying a price

Polymer banknotes are worse for the planet than paper, according to new research
Katie Hill - Editor-in-Chief, My Green Pod
Paying a price

New research has revealed the environmental impact of the various payment methods available – from old and new bank notes to bank cards and even Apple Pay.

Polymer banknotes represent almost triple the greenhouse gas emissions compared with the paper notes they replaced, despite their longer lifespan and the Bank of England’s initial claims.

The research shows that, of the average number of banknotes required by an individual adult each year, new £10 notes release 8.77kg of CO2 compared with their cotton-paper predecessors’ 2.92kg – exactly three times as much.

For £5 notes, that’s 4.97kg for polymer against 1.8kg for paper – or 2.76 times as much – just in the manufacturing of the required number of notes.

Do new notes last longer?

The Moneyboat research combines data from the Bank of England’s own reports with information on cash manufacture and usage, from sources such as the British Retail Consortium, to give a more realistic comparison.

The plastic notes were initially introduced in 2016 on the basis that they could include greater security features, are more resistant to dirt and have a longer life.

This extended lifespan was cited as the main reason for the new notes having a lower environmental impact.

However, the bank’s data are based on what it calls functional units – the circulation of 1,000 banknotes over 10 years – rather than the number actually used by an individual, their manufacture and the number of exchanges they go through.

Throwing money away

When it comes to disposal at the end of their lives, paper notes are returned to the Bank of England, where they are granulated and composted in a process similar to that used for food waste. Meanwhile, polymer notes are granulated, melted and mechanically recycled into other objects.

The greenhouse gas production of each method for both the paper and plastic £5 notes is essentially the same. £10 notes are slightly larger and thicker, meaning that the polymer versions create slightly more CO2 in their end-of-life process than their paper counterparts.

How green is Apple Pay?

Not every alternative method of payment avoids the problem, either. The increasingly popular Apple Pay, for example, comes with the considerable environmental cost of manufacturing an iPhone, which will typically only be kept for two years.

According to Apple’s own reports, a 64GB iPhone XS represents lifetime emissions of 70kg of CO2, with 53.9kg coming from the unit’s production. That’s almost eight times more than polymer £10 notes – the next most damaging option.

Most eco payment option

The research found that the most environmentally friendly payment method is a bank card, despite being made from PVC.

Over its three-year life, a standard card represents just 20.8g of CO2 production. Even when the technology for wireless payments is added, it increases to just 40g of CO2 – a fraction of that from banknotes.

Click here to read our article about how young designers can drive the shift to a circular economy.

Here's more related content

Sorry we don't have any suggested related content at the moment. Please check back later.

Join The Conversation

Leave a Reply

Here's More Ethical News News & Features

  • All
  • Antarctic
  • EU
  • Earth Day
  • Europe
  • Fairtrade
  • Spirits
  • Valentines
  • activism
  • activists
  • animal welfare
  • animals
  • banking
  • banks
  • beauty
  • biodiversity
  • birds
  • circular economy
  • cities
  • climate
  • climate action
  • climate justice
  • community
  • conflict
  • consumption
  • deforestation
  • diet
  • drinks
  • ecocide
  • economy
  • education
  • environment
  • equality
  • ethical business
  • extinction
  • farmers
  • farming
  • fish
  • food
  • forests
  • fossil fuels
  • funding
  • health
  • homes
  • housing
  • human rights
  • investment
  • investments
  • law
  • leadership
  • legal
  • lifestyle
  • litter
  • money
  • nature
  • oceans
  • organic
  • peace
  • pension
  • plastic
  • plastic pollution
  • policy
  • politics
  • pollution
  • recycling
  • resources
  • restoration
  • rivers
  • schools
  • science
  • skincare
  • species
  • sports
  • tech
  • tree planting
  • trees
  • war
  • waste
  • water
  • wildlife
  • women
  • work