The Bank of Canada has announced it will be printing currency on a new plastic polymer starting in 2011. In addition to be longer lasting, the notes will contain “innovative security features to significantly increase their protection against counterfeiting.”
While few details have been released about the new substrate, the Bank does say the material will have a lower overall production cost and reduced environmental impact in comparison with the currently used cotton paper. Similar polymer notes have already been adopted in Australia, Vietnam and Mexico. According to the National Post, the polymer material is created exclusively in Australia, but printing of the notes will remain in Canada.
The Royal Canadian Mint has also announced that the loonie and the toonie will also undergo a change, which will see the coins being created using a patented multi-ply steel construction process, which is cheaper and already employed in creating nickels, dimes and quarters.
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