All waste has potential value in this eco-conscious age of recycling. New money can even be made from old money by recycling disintegrating banknotes which are usually taken out of circulation, burnt, pulped or shredded. The Bank of England has recently granted a licence to a business entrepreneur to dispose of some of its annual paper mountain of decaying banknotes. Nice one for the fortunate licensee Nick Bradfield, who runs a company appropriately called "Money to Burn". However, Nick and his associates will not be creating a run on stocks of sticky-back plastic to reassemble old fivers and tenners. Instead his company is covering the one-time legal tender in acrylic to produce paperweight and jewellery products.

Nick claims prospects of reassembling random pieces of paper encased in heavy-duty acrylic are virtually nil. All the same, Bank of England mandarins should keep a weather eye open for any unexpected surge in orders for blow torches.