Sustainability in a box
After our banknotes have been sorted and checked, they are bundled in wads of a hundred and banded with coated paper for safe transportation. They are then shrink wrapped in foil in batches of ten wads. The result: lots of plastic waste.
As part of our 2017 competition for Best Sustainability Action, our staff came up with the idea of using NotaTracc® Trays for transportation instead. Rather than packing and unpacking the banknotes for transportation, they can be sorted directly into NotaTracc® Tray and sealed securely. We are already using the trays and the sorting of banknotes will be completely automated by 2021. This not only saves us several work steps, it also reduces the amount of packaging material used by 25 percent. Over six years, that means a saving of 483,463 km of coated paper for banding and over 730 tons of shrink foil.
25 % less packaging material by using NotaTracc® Trays for transporting banknotes
A pilot project for creative waste recycling
Can grass and paper be turned into plastic? Yes – so say the staff at our Königstein plant. They have developed a bioplastic made from shredded scrap paper, grass fibers and recycled plastic granulate. This could be used to produce sustainable cash transportation boxes for G+D cashsorting machines, for instance. We are currently looking into whether there is a market for the new material.
These streets are made for money
Can a global product be transported sustainably?
Banknotes don’t just move from one till to the next: Many kilometers have to be covered even before production begins. Cotton from India, foils from Frankfurt … And when production is complete, the finished banknotes are shipped all over the world. Until that point, we try to avoid air transportation as it produces 22 times as much CO2 as going by sea – although international shipping still has a long way to go when it comes to harmful sulfur oxide emissions. When the notes are ready, it is the customer that decides about how to transport them. Often they choose air, as the fastest route. Security can also be guaranteed for sea and rail transportation.
Ready for less!
How we can save packaging before printing.
Before we send the finished sheets of paper for printing, we currently shrink wrap each ream (500 sheets) upon request. The reams are then stacked on top of each other, each one rotated by 180 degrees. Finally, we put a cardboard box over the whole tower. When the delivery reaches the printers, they remove the reams from the stack one by one, take off the shrink wrap and feed them into the printing machine. It occurred to us that there must be a better way of doing this. So, we developed a new packaging system, called “Ready2Press”. Ready2Press not only saves materials, time and effort – it also improves quality and enhances the production process.
Here’s how it works
Our basis is a frame-like structure. This structure can hold 6,000 to 8,000 sheets each so it can be easily transported. In case the stack leans to one side or the other, double corrugated board is inserted next to the sheets. If necessary, the corrugated wedge slats used in the printing process can also be inserted into the stack in such a way as to provide additional stability. We then wrap the entire stack in an outer layer of cardboard with a wafer-thin polyethylene protective coating. That means we don’t have to laboriously package the individual reams, and the entire stack is ready for printing immediately after unpacking – it doesn’t have to be restacked at the printer’s. To implement the Ready2Press system, a special packaging machine is needed that builds the stacks automatically. We have an initial concept for such a system and can help interested paper mills and printers introduce Ready2Press systematically. In order to be able to integrate the system into our own production process, we are first standardizing the wide range of packaging types that exist at the moment and creating space for the new machinery. As the investment costs are very high, we will only be able to implement the new system if there is sufficient demand.
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?