How to recycle “unfit” money?
In its pursuit of a more environmentally responsible image, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has been stymied on one front. It has yet to find a green use for its green. The Fed shreds 40 tons of paper money a week at its Center City headquarters. It consists of the “mutilated, soiled, or torn currency” determined to be “unfit” for continued use, spokeswoman Marilyn Wimp said. Some of the scraps are wrapped in small packets that are handed out as souvenirs to Fed visitors. The rest are picked up by the bank’s trash hauler and taken to an unknown landfill, Wimp said. Chris Ivanoski, manager of major projects in the Fed’s facilities-management department, said he would like to find a local person or business that could recycle the shredded bills. Such discards from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis are incorporated into countertops manufactured by a nearby company, Ivanoski said. Don’t laugh. From a certain distance, shredded paper looks like granite. To see for yourself, c
