Sustainability at Louisenthal
How a value chain becomes sustainable
Wouldn’t it be great if every question in life had a simple answer? For instance, what are good banknotes made of, cotton or polymers? Or is a mix of the two even better? If there’s one thing that we’ve learned from our search for a sustainable banknote, it’s that the answers are rarely a straight yes or no. They almost always come with an if or a but attached.
Yes, cotton is a renewable resource – but it needs to be produced sustainably and fairly. No, most of the polymers used are not biodegradable – but even an extremely thin foil can make banknotes last three to four times as long. Hydroelectric power is good – as long as you treat the source with care.
Where do you start when you want to make major changes? We took a long, hard look at our entire value chain and carried out an honest appraisal: What is going well? Where could we do even better? On the following pages we tell you what we found, and what we plan to do about it. What happens after that depends partly on you – on the common goals that we formulate and put into practice going forward.
One of our most important resources is cotton – and our substrates are based on waste fibres from the textile industry that would otherwise end up in landfill.
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Find out about the many ways we optimise our production in terms of resources – as well as how we reduced our water consumption by 40% in just 9 years and generate 24% of our own power needs.
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Read how we’ve optimised our packaging machines and materials while implementing significant improvements to waste management and transportation.
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Learn about the initiates we’re supporting to promote longer banknote lifespans and less frequent reprinting, as well as our responsible approach to energy re-use, disposal and recycling
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Further Reading
Sustainability Newspaper
How sustainable can a banknote be? We took a hard look at our entire value chain: What is going well? Where could we do even better?
The Life of a Banknote
Louisenthal is running the Life of a Banknote program to promote tangible action for green banknotes, including the use of green energy, fair-trade cotton, reusable packaging and recycling. Did you know we produce 25% of our own electricity and have reduced water consumption by 40% in 9 years?