Does the Future Belong to Plastic Cash?

Mark Robertshaw is walking around a printing plant in Wigton, England, about 10 miles from the Scottish border, with a wad of cash. He lays out a Mexican 50, a Canadian 20, an Australian 5, and a fiver from the U.K. Unlike euros or U.S. dollars, these notes have a slight sheen and the feel of wax paper. That’s because they entered the 10-story plant as popcorn-size kernels of plastic.

Robertshaw is the chief executive officer of Innovia, the world’s leading maker of plastic money. If that sounds like faint praise—such bills account for only 3 percent of the world’s money—there’s plenty of reason to believe Innovia will become a bigger force in the $1.3 billion bank note industry. The £5 note makes the U.K. the latest of about 30 countries to start shifting toward plastic cash, a more durable and secure alternative to the cotton in your Andrew Jacksons. Of the 50 billion-plus plastic notes now in circulation, Innovia made more than 99 percent. “There is a received wisdom out there that cash is disappearing,” Robertshaw says. “Statistics don’t support that.”