Costa Rica has become the latest country to issue new polymer banknotes. The notes will be manufactured by CCL Secure on GUARDIAN substrate. The Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) announced the move at the end of July 2020, three years after the decision to move to polymer was first agreed by the Board of Directors.
Initially, new ₡ 2,000, ₡ 5,000 and ₡ 20,000 notes will be put into circulation, with a ₡ 10,000 bill to follow later.
In a statement, the BCCR said: “The polymer substrate gives the banknotes greater durability, makes them more secure, and allows adequate recycling of waste once it reaches its useful life.”
The launch of the new notes was timed to enable ATM operators and users of other currency processing equipment time to check and adjust the calibrations of machinery, where necessary, to accept the new notes.
Although the new banknotes include amendments to their design and the incorporation of new security measures that are possible only with polymer substrate, key design characters, motifs and colours have been retained. The new notes are also the same size as those currently in circulation.
The polymer substrate used in Costa Rica’s new notes is GUARDIAN, manufactured by CCL Secure. GUARDIAN has been issued in over 40 countries worldwide, and more than 75 billion notes have been put into circulation.
“We’re honoured to have work so closely with the Banco Central de Costa Rica on their new GUARDIAN polymer banknote series.” commented Tim Berridge, the company’s Director of R&D, Marketing and Design.
“We know from experience that the introduction of polymer banknotes delivers long lasting benefits to any country that adopts them, including reducing the risk of counterfeiting and lowering the overall cost of replacing banknotes that last longer than paper alternatives. Countless scientific studies also show that, surprising as it may seem, they are more environmentally friendly than paper.”