2019-06-05 Wed

The Bank of England has chosen CCL Secure as the supplier of polymer substrate for the next £50 banknote by signing an 8-year contract. Most of the new £50 banknotes from the first batch would be printed by CCL Secure while the remaining ones would be produced by De La Rue. With this launch, England’s entire new family of notes would be on Guardian substrate. All circulating £5 and £10 banknotes are on Guardian polymer, 75% of the new £20 notes will be on Guardian after it gets launched next year. Other countries like Australia, Brunei, Canada, Mauritania, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Romania also issue banknotes using the same substrate.

CCL Secure and Bank of England have been working together for 10 years now. They developed the concept design for the new £5, the full substrate design of the £5 and £10 notes. They have also offered consultation for all other polymer notes that the bank is planning to release. CCL Secure officials claim that Guardian polymer makes banknotes eco-friendly, more secure and more durable. It has managed to reduce counterfeiting rates and carbon footprint over a banknote's lifespan.

In 2013, Bank of England announced that a polymer substrate would be used to produce £5 notes in 2016. CCL Secure established a production facility in Wigton, Cumbria in 2014 to manufacture both the substrate and base film. A balanced biaxially-oriented polypropylene film is used in Guardian substrate, which is manufactured by CCL Secure's sister company Innovia.

The Bank of England was awarded the Carbon Trust's Footprint Label in 2017 for carbon footprint reduction for changing from cotton paper-based banknotes to polymer banknotes. Several other countries such as Australia, Canada and Costa Rica have been benefitted as polymer notes are more durable, secure and cost-effective.

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