Each year, we pay to reprint about 4 billion of dollar bills that have worn out, which are either burned or put into landfills.

Every day of the year, 9.7 tons of ink are used to print U.S. currency, 95% of which is to replace existing bills, according to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. Where do you think all that ink goes?

Consider that the average bill lasts 21 months, and then has to be replaced and destroyed. Have you ever considered the amount of fertilizer and pesticides used to grow the cotton whose fibers go into these bills? There must be a lot, based on the cotton industry’s fight to keep the dollar bills, with Trent Lott’s assistance in 2005.

How about the energy used to farm and transport the cotton, harvest the trees, turn the trees into paper, and print the bills? Stopping it would save us all half a billion a year, without even considering the energy use and environmental costs.

On the other side are the obvious costs of mining the ore and producing the golden one dollar coins. But, while the coins cost about twice as much to produce initially, they last 30-50 years, not 21 months.

There are a couple of flimsy excuses for refusal to use the coins:

(1) they’re too bulky and will wear out our pockets. (Ever use a pocket full of quarters for parking meters or laundromats? Ever wonder why the big silver dollars never wore out any pockets?)

(2) they’re too difficult to distinguish from quarters. (Sort of like dimes and pennies—only differences are the different size, different design, different color, and milled edge on one and not the other.)

Charlie Smith’s passion is to increase the use of dollar coins, and he asks for your help:

First, call him 912-882-5678(W) 912 -882-4152(H) or send him an email csmith46@tds.net

He will provide what you can use, at face value, in $25.00 uncirculated rolls—or go by the bank and pick some up, if they have them.

Second, USE THEM…by paying for small purchases, giving tips, purchases in vending machines, or keep them for future collectors. They make great gifts!

Third, ask local merchants for dollar coins in change, rather than one dollar bills. If they’re asked often enough, they’ll start carrying them.