WHAT HAPPENS TO WORN OUT MONEY?
What happens to old, worn-out money that is too dirty and damaged to be used anymore? The United States Treasury Department collects four to five tons of these bills every day! They are destroyed in a machine called a macerator. This machine can shred one million dollars a minute into little, confetti-size pieces of paper.
But not all damaged money is useless. Bills that have a piece torn off can be redeemed, or replaced, by sending them in to the Treasury Department. If you have at least three fifths of the bill, you can mail it to the Treasury Department and they will send you a fresh, new bill of the same amount. If you have less than three fifths of the bill but at least two fifths of it, it can be redeemed for half of the bill's value. What the Treasury Department will not give you, however, is information about the paper on which our government's money is printed -- it's top secret!