Horror of new plastic £5 and £10 notes about to launch

[tilly31]

I have some information and questions which I feel are dramatically important to our families and the bigger enviromental argument as a whole which has been kept hidden away from the general public .
As I understand it, Mark Carney, the canadian new Head of the Bank Of England has now introduced Plastic Polymer British £5 and £10 notes. They launch next month. With plans to do the same with the £20 and more later on.

1. Polymer is derived from OIL. We are supposedly trying to get away from using hydro-carbons to save the world. Why on earth would a country like the United Kingdom choose to make their new bank notes from OIL? This will immediately not only affect the cotton farmers and subsidaries around the world who supply the cotton and the British manufacturers who make the current note. And may I point out, that fresh cotton is not used for bank notes. It is the used cotton left over from the textile mills which goes into the production of our notes. So completely recycled and renewable. The only people to gain from OIL based notes are the OIL COMPANIES. This is insane!!

1. They say they last 20 years. Most central banks re-design their bank notes every ten years because life changes, leaders change, new figures appear. At this time we are changing our notes to put a woman on the front of a note for the first time. It would mean another 20 years before we can put a second woman on a note!
2. Children put all sorts of things in their mouths. They can bite off bits of a paper bank note but a plastic one doesn't break up. I don't think this is safe, bit like a plastic bag.
3. Polymer may last longer, but the ink on the note doesn’t. So the notes become illegible earlier and have to be withdrawn from circulation. Therefore more production of Oil based notes have to be made sooner.

I can assure you, I am a pretty tame member of the public, but hearing this information from very reliable sources, has appalled me to say the least. I think there has been a big cover up on the cost, economic and personal with Polymer notes.

As a mother of 3 children, this seems to be an enormous backward step in our enviroment today.

Horror? Personally I've got more important things to worry about.

BoE says polymer notes are More Env. Friendly than paper ones.

I admire the energy you have to put to this, OP. Honest.

O noes, plastic money!

I'd like:

Silver: 10p 20p 50p
Gold: £1 £2 £5
Plastic note: £10 £20 £50

The 5p I would make brown/bronze, like the current 1p and 2p, to be phased out when it becomes so low-value it's pointless. The 1p and 2p are already pointless. The half-penny was done away with when it was still worth more than the current 2p (by some measures of inflation) or 1p (by other measures). Nobody likes carrying those great big near-worthless chunks of metal around.

I'd also make cash machines dispense fifties. It's ridiculous we still don't use them day-to-day. In the eighties a £20 note was worth at least what a fifty is now (whatever inflation calculation method you use) but it was a perfectly normal note to use.

We've had plastic fivers in Scotland for ages and no child has died yet from ingesting one.

I really don't think as parents we are in a place to judge the use of plastics (unless all of your kids toys are ethically sourced wooden ones). I don't know about you but my living room and most of my friends are filled to the brim with the plastic contents of the ELC which won't be decomposing anytime soon,

The Bank of England claims that polymer bank notes are more environmentally friendly than paper. I suggest that you view and consider their arguments before going off on a Luddite tantrum.
www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/polymer/Documents/lcapaperandpolymerbanknotes.pdf

We've had plastic £5 in N Ireland for years, have never heard of a child biting one. You would really struggle to tear one anyway.

You've made some interesting points there - am off to investigate further. I think it a little rude odd that a poster who has 'more important things to think about' actually has the time and energy to write a response to your OP

Do you frequently let your children eat money?

Oz has used plastic banknotes since the late 90s, hasn't it?

Environmentally and in the bank note industry there is a lot of discussion on the so-called 'greenness' of plastic notes.
Justin Fenner of Fenner Paper has written an article on how plastic notes are disposed of by burning them.
justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/bank-of-england-redefines-recycling.html?m=1

I have friends in both Canada and Australia. Yes there have been reports of children choking on plastic notes. It may not make headlines, just as children choking on buttons, plastic bags, smarties etc here. But it does happen. As a working woman and parent, I am concerned about the amount of plastic bottles, carrier bags, take -away food containers that are littering the country. And I have yet to see a good reason for yet more plastic in our money. Just because it exists in a couple of countries doesn't make it ok.

As a working woman and parent. What does your working status have to do with anything. .

I keep my children away from my wallet. The coins in it are considerably more of a choking risk than the notes.

You're right LittleBearPad. Working doesn't have anything to do with caring about the environment and pollution. And I don't have to be a parent to care about kids and their future. As a person, I just do.

Tilly31 what utter shite, they are no more a choking hazard than normal paper notes. The plastic ones are much better and I'm surprised they haven't been introduced sooner.

Plastic notes are nigh on impossible to rip, and if your child can bite a bit off then you must have given birth to the old James Bond villain with metal teeth.

Also, I've known this was coming for several years, during which time people have actually been checking whether the change is sensible, so there's hardly been a massive conspiracy.

The new notes will be more durable, and won't be destroyed when accidentally washed (public service announcement: don't iron them though). And frankly I don't care whose picture is on the note. I'd rather have notes like the ones I had in Romania which had the solar system and other wonders of the universe on them.

The ops point is that you can't bite them and therefore they are a choking hazard. Not sure I agree, just correcting the misconceptions

Fair enough. Though I doubt a child can actually manage to get a whole note in its mouth and far back enough to actually asphyxiate. They don't crumple up like the paper ones. I'd have thought it more possible with smaller offbites.

Tbh I'd be most concerned by how filthy the current notes are (that's a fun Google adventure)

I know Stealth, and l still say that it's shite. A child will hardly tear a paper note so it doesn't choke

4. Children put all sorts of things in their mouths. They can bite off bits of a paper bank note but a plastic one doesn't break up. I don't think this is safe, bit like a plastic bag.

What the fuck? How frequently are you giving small children £5 to suck and chew? There are lots of bits of papery plastic out there. A plastic note is nothing like a plastic bag. The notes won't be big enough to go over their heads. Like you say, children can choke on things like buttons, but we don't ban them.

How long until cash is obsolete do we reckon?

I thought the whole thought behind them being made of plastic was they will wear better/last longer - thus illiminating the need to destory trees so frequently to reprint paper note, making them more environmentally friendly? To state we are worried about the disposal impact of these new notes but we are happy to live with the destruction of trees seems hypocritical?

I am impartial to the change to be honest.

Three kids is one too many to do what is needed and reduce world population, given that many people don't have any. So , 'as a mother' you've already done far more damage than plastic banknotes ever will!

No , I'm not suggesting putting them back, but I find the lack of logic amusing. We all need to use fewer resources and these notes do help that a bit.