Bank of Italy studies how to recycle worn out banknotes. Giving a new use to worn banknotes, withdrawn from circulation and shredded and then burned in waste-to-energy plants as fuel.
In 2022 the banknotes withdrawn and reduced to fragments amounted to 638 tonnes. In 2023, in its two factories, the Bank of Italy produced, in agreement with the'sister' central banks of the Eurosystem, 925 million banknotes,. consisting of 20 and 50 euro banknotes from the second series.