Royal Mint abandons £4m worth of unwanted copper coins

[Pelican Press 0]

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Royal Mint abandons £4m worth of unwanted copper coins

The Royal Mint has left millions of unwanted 1p and 2p coins abandoned in warehouses across Britain as 

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Roughly 260m surplus copper coins worth around £4m are piling up after being stored indefinitely in cash centres across the country, industry data shows.

This includes roughly 150m – or two thirds – of all the 225m 2p coins in the *** as well as 110m of the 200m 1p coins that have been minted.

The amount of surplus cash is now so large that the total volume is the equivalent of more than 2,000 washing machine-sized cages – each weighing a tonne – filled with coins.

It also means that more copper coins are stored in these warehouses than are in circulation.

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Surveys suggest that more than half of 1p and 2p coins that enter circulation are used once before ending up in a jam jar or storage, while one in 12 are thrown in the bin.

The Royal Mint, the official maker of British coins, has not recycled or melted down surplus coins since it closed its smelting facility more than a decade ago.

Unlike the Bank of England, which swaps damaged or mutilated banknotes from the general public, the Royal Mint only accepts damaged coins collected by banks.

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amid reports that it did not expect to order any new 1p and 2p coins to be minted for the next few years.

It has previously said it has “no plans” to change the mix of *** coins in the system, of which there are estimated to be 27bn in circulation.

Royal Mint data show 30m 1p coins were minted in 2022 and none in 2023. There have been no 2 pence pieces minted since 2021. By contrast, more than a billion pennies were minted in 2000.

*** Finance declined to comment on the coin data but a spokesman said: “The industry is committed to the sustained use of cash. However, we really need to make sure that we have the right type of notes and coins that people want to use. And we should be thinking about how we might recycle some of the current coins in circulation.”

A spokesman for The Royal Mint said: “The Royal Mint only accepts damaged circulating coins. These are processed to ensure the value of the metal can be recovered.”

Previous chancellors have considered scrapping copper coins. Philip Hammond launched a consultation in 2018 about the mix of coins in circulation after branding copper coins “obsolete”.

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The Treasury’s consultation cited data showing around two thirds of coins issued by the Royal Mint were not in active circulation. Many were taken overseas or stored in jam jars or piggy banks. A survey suggests 8pc were discarded.

In 2019, the Treasury estimated that the Royal Mint needed to issue over 500 million 1p and 2p coins each year to replace those falling out of circulation.

Mr Hammond later backed down, stressing that consumer choice remained a big factor. George Osborne also wanted to scrap coppers but was overruled by former prime minister Lord Cameron.

Those who support the continuing use of copper coins argue that 

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could push prices up as retailers would round prices up to the nearest 5p.

Cash also ******** the second-most-popular payment method, after debit cards – with an estimated 3m people still relying on it.

The penny was first produced in the 8th century and is the oldest British denomination still in use today.

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