(Newser)
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Starting this week, you can pay with plastic in Canada—without incurring any credit card debt. The Bank of Canada put a new $100 bill made out of polymer into circulation, the Globe and Mail reports, and banks stopped issuing the old paper notes Monday afternoon. Polymer $50 bills are coming in March, followed by $20, $10, and $5 bills in 2013. The notes, made of multiple layers of plastic and almost impossible to tear, will be more difficult to counterfeit and will last longer than paper money. They’re also recyclable, USA Today notes.
Despite an increasing number of attempts to make cashless transactions possible, the central bank’s governor said while unveiling the new bills that “reports of the death of cash are greatly exaggerated,” and as such, “Canadians … need a currency that they can trust.” Australia also uses polymer bills, and has since the 1980s; about 30 countries in total have moved away from paper currency.
