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Comment by MildlySerious | Hacker News Reader

I'm aware it's being done already. But I'm not sure it would be a good starting point when designing a new set of notes. Euro banknotes are mostly made from cotton, and a lot of thought and effort is going into reducing the environmental footprint. The most circulated denominations last on average four years, the rest significantly longer I presume. How does that compare to polymer based banknotes?

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In Canada they last 8-16 years… polymer notes are unequivocally better. Corruption and inertia is the only reason they are not everywhere. As to plastic pollution, banknotes are already a closed, circular loop and hence you get the miracle properties of plastic without the downside.

I think the concern was with the plastic money shedding micro plastics or threads as it slowly degrades over time, like we're finding other plastic does like our clothing. Not saying enough to take out of circulation, but does it shed any particles during its life?

Does it shed particles? In a world of absolutism yes they would.

I don’t know if there are actually any studies but fyi cotton notes will also have plastic features and a synthetic, uv cured varnish to try and get some extra life (although far less than polymer) so also ’shed’. Banknotes are regularly inspected and worn or damaged notes are pulled - they really are the perfect product for plastic.

By weight though, it's a lot less plastic being put out there. Is it worse than clothing? Maybe not, but I'd continue to be skeptical about it until some studies have been done.

But the solid piece of plastic isn’t shedding, it’s encased in ink and will be removed with set levels of ink wear. The synthetic varnishes, features etc are the same with paper so you’re putting out 4x the amount of ‘at risk’ shedding material due to the longer life of polymer.

Plastic = bad is a disaster for co2 emissions and ironically microplastics since the alternatives are heavier and don’t last as long. Meaning more transport, distribution etc and tires are one of the biggest sources of microplastics.

I think the concern was with the plastic money shedding micro plastics

Show me anyone who is actually 'concerned' about that with numbers to back up that there is any significance.

Here are some numbers (points on the left):

https://hn.algolia.com/?q=microplastics

This doesn't show anyone concerned about polymer money shedding microplastics and it doesn't show any numbers about how much polymer money sheds microplastics.

What did you think this was evidence of?

I thought you doubt that people are concerned about microplastics in general, but apparently not.

It's called plastic money by the way, not polymer money.

It's called plastic money by the way, not polymer money.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer_banknote

This seems to be just a marketing name. You could equally call plastic cups "polymer cups".

They are made from synthetic polymer such as biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP).

If you go to a country where they use these, they call them polymer notes.

They are made from a polymer and people that use them call them polymer notes. That's a decent amount of evidence compared to your no evidence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJTLCmIW1rA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BD1xX7c1Jg

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=polymer+banknot...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNKVz933uFw

> They are made from synthetic polymer such as biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP).

Polymer cups are also made from synthetic polymers like polypropylene. So are polymer knives and polymer forks.

It's called plastic money by the way, not polymer money.

I don't know what else to tell you. You said it's not called polymer money, I showed you a lot of evidence that it is.

It's a euphemism that you don't have to accept if you find polymer cups ridiculous.

It's a euphemism

Not a euphemism. They're made out of polymer. This is pretty direct.

you don't have to accept if you find polymer cups ridiculous

I don't and I don't know why anyone would be upset over that.

You said they aren't called polymer notes, I showed you they are called polymer notes by linking evidence. What else is there? Are you still saying they aren't called that or does it just upset you for some reason? You can hate it but it's still true.

People concerned with _microplastics_.

They don't care where it comes from.

The point being - is money one?

Why be so dismissive?

Why be so dismissive?

Because there is zero evidence of what you're saying. How much plastic are people surrounded by and how much of that weight is bank notes? How much do they shed? Show some numbers or just use some common sense that this doesn't matter.

I don't know! That's why we're asking. Do you know those numbers? If you do then you could enlighten us

The average household in the uk has 1,136 kg, the equivalent weight of a small car.

https://phys.org/news/2020-06-tool-household-plastics-footpr...

A polymer bank note weighs 0.7g

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/banknotes/...

If you have 10 bank notes in your wallet, you have 162,285 times as much plastic in your house.

I think most people would have had used some basic common sense that even their trash bags are many times more plastic than the polymer bank notes they use.

Why did you possibly think that anyone should be focused on microplastics from bank notes?

At what point do you go from "just asking questions" to "maybe this is a bizarre thing to focus on" ?

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