Contaminated Currency and Coin

Contaminated Currency Procedures

What is Contaminated Currency?

Contaminated currency is defined as currency that has been damaged by or exposed to contaminants, poses a health hazard or safety risk, and cannot be processed under normal operating procedures. This definition does not apply to currency that has been exposed to a bio-terrorist (either biological or chemical) agent. Please contact your local Federal Reserve Bank FedCash® Services management for specific instructions for handling bio-terrorist contaminated currency. In general, contamination may be caused by the following:

  • Floodwater or any prolonged exposure to water or other liquids
  • Exposure to blood, urine, feces or any other bodily fluids, including removal from any body cavity, corpse or animal
  • Exposure to sewage
  • Exposure to any foreign substance or chemical, including dye-packs, which may pose a health hazard or safety risk
  • Mold or mildew

The Federal Reserve Banks have developed the following special deposit requirements for the treatment of contaminated currency. These requirements help protect the safety of staff both at the Federal Reserve Banks and within your financial institution.

Preparing Contaminated Currency for Deposit

Prepare a contaminated currency deposit using the following step-by-step process:

  1. Contaminated currency should be kept separate from normal deposits.
  2. Contaminated currency should be prepared by denomination, in straps of 100 and bundles of 10 straps whenever possible.
  3. Less than 100 notes of a single denomination should be strapped and marked with the piece count and dollar amount. The notes may be stapled in a fan shape to expedite the piece-counting process.
  4. Contaminated currency must be double-bagged.

    • a) Inner Bag
      The inner bag must be a strong, tamper-evident, clear plastic currency bag purchased by your institution for depositing with the Federal Reserve Banks or an autoclave* bag provided by a small number of Federal Reserve Banks upon request and free of charge for Federal Reserve locations with internal sterilization equipment.

      Cash offices using internal sterilization equipment** and providing autoclave bags upon request include:

      • Boston
      • Richmond
      • Houston

      In the event of a large-scale natural disaster (such as a hurricane) that results in an unusually large amount of contaminated currency which is exposed to a number of unknown toxins, the Federal Reserve Banks will provide upon request and free of charge special bags with moisture and oxygen barriers. These barriers are designed to provide leak and odor protection.
    • b) Outer Bag
      The outer bag must also be a strong, tamper-evident, clear plastic currency bag used by your institution for depositing with the Federal Reserve Banks.
  5. The word “CONTAMINATED” should be written in permanent marker and large letters on the outside of the outer currency bag.
  6. Provide advance written notification to your local Federal Reserve Bank of the incoming contaminated currency deposit arriving at the Federal Reserve Bank dock by one of the methods below:

    • a) Complete the FedCash Services Contaminated Currency form and send it via email or fax to the Federal Reserve Bank of deposit prior to sending contaminated currency to the cash dock; or
    • b) Prepare notification on your financial institution’s letterhead and send it via email or fax to the Federal Reserve Bank of deposit prior to sending contaminated currency to the cash dock. The following information must be included in the notification:

      • Financial institution name
      • ABA (routing number) and branch number
      • Contact name
      • Contact phone number
      • Deposit breakdown information
      • Total dollar value of the deposit
      • Deposit contaminant (in accordance with Operating Circular 2, obtain as much information from your customer as possible regarding the contaminant)
      • Expected date of deposit
      • Armored Carrier name
    Contact your local Federal Reserve Bank to obtain email addresses and fax telephone numbers.

  7. Complete a separate Federal Reserve Bank deposit ticket providing the denominational breakdown and total of the contaminated currency.

If proper advance notification of a contaminated currency deposit does not occur, or if proper packaging requirements are not met, the Federal Reserve Banks reserve the right to return the deposit to the financial institution. For more information, contact your local Cash office.

Decontaminating Coin

Customers who are in possession of contaminated coin and wish to deposit it are instructed to contact the Federal Reserve Banks for further instructions.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) does not publish guidelines for sanitizing coin specifically, but they indicate that coin is a solid surface material and should be cleaned and sanitized per the instructions below for “Other Household Surfaces and Items”.

How to Clean and Sanitize Other Household Surfaces and Items

Surfaces that do not soak up water and that may have touched floodwater [Examples: floors, stoves, sinks, certain toys, countertops, flatware, plates, and tools] should be cleaned in the following manner:

Instructions for cleaning and sanitizing Other Household Surfaces and Items:

  1. Clean surface with soap and clean water.
  2. Disinfect with a mixture of 1 cup of bleach to 5 gallons of water. For more information please visit http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/floods/after.asp#cleanup (Off-site Link)
  3. Allow to air dry.

 

Visit www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters (Off-site Link) or call (800) 232-4636 for additional information.

For more information about FedCash Services processing and operations, visit the service offerings pages or consult your local FedCash Services contact.

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*An autoclave bag is a medical-grade self-sealing bag used to store contaminated materials in order to be put into an autoclave machine which is a pressurized device (Off-site Link) designed to heat aqueous solutions above their boiling point (Off-site Link) at higher-than-normal pressures to achieve sterilization (Off-site Link).

** The non-standard sterilization practice currently exists at four Federal Reserve offices due to the absence of an off-site destruction facility in the geographic region.