Old Currency Gets Burned To Generate Electricity

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Each year, millions of paper currency is removed from circulation and destroyed. Philadelphia, and other cities around the world, are burning that money to create power.

The United States' government is annually tasked with disposing of millions of ripped or worn paper currency. Many times, the shredded bills become dog beds, packing material or landfill waste.

Certain cities in America, and around the world, have found a better purpose for the retired bills, by burning them for electricity.

Philadelphia is one of those cities. Its Federal Reserve Bank gives the money removed from circulation to a local power plant, where it's burned for fuel.

Along with helping supply electricity for residents, torching the money reduces landfill waste.

As recently as 2009, only 30 percent of unusable paper currency was recycled. In 2013 approximately 94 percent of it was. That equates to nearly 4,900 tons of currency each year.

Los Angeles is another American city that has followed suit, burning nearly 500 tons of old cash each year.

America isn't alone in this method. A power plant in the central Henan province of China has been approved to burn unused paper bills for fuel, potentially producing 1.32 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.

The Bank of England takes a slightly different approach. Instead of producing energy, the old bills are disintegrated and turned into compost briquettes.