The new polymer £5 notes contain small quantities of tallow - an animal derived fat - much to the annoyance of vegetarians, vegans and Hindus amongst us. But is it not a lot of fuss about nothing much?
But how much fat is actually in the money? According to the manufacturer of the RBS polymer notes, it is less than 0.003%. That is three parts in one hundred thousand.
The polymer notes weigh 0.7g approximately. That means there will be 0.000021g of tallow per note.
If we then consider the median annual UK household income of around £25,000 and spend it entirely in £5 notes, all 5,000 of them, it would be close 0.1g of animal derived produce will pass through our hands.
Think of some carnivore munching a bacon sandwich, with bacon fat dripping on to his fingers. He then picks up a traditional, absorbent cotton paper ten pound note. There is now more animal products in this note than in the new polymer type. Probably 10 or 100 times the amount. I do hope that the Cambridge Rainbow Cafe is therefore refusing all "paper" notes and accepting only sterilised coins.
A final thought on the silliness of it all. A proportion of our electricity is also made with animal products. For example, Viridor have waste to energy facilities which generate the equivalent of around 1% of UK domestic electricity. The waste feed stock includes domestic waste which is not separated to distinguish meat and vegetable matter. Abattoir waste is also used in energy to waste scheme. In short, animal products play a part in our energy mix so if we are being so strictly vegetarian that we cannot handle 0.000021g of animal produce in cash we certainly shouldn't be using electricity. We could always start a campaign to return the animal waste and cross contaminated waste to landfill but that may be seen as a regressive step.
