More than $60 million worth of coins are thrown out every year in America, according to a company that’s going to great lengths to find them at its waste-management facility in Bucks County.
There’s a chance a coin you’ve trashed — likely by accident — has been dug up like treasure at Reworld’s Morrisville plant, the subject of a recent Wall Street Journal profile that also covers the diminished relevance of metal money and this fun fact: It costs the U.S. government more than 3 cents to make a single penny.
Reworld says it’s recovered $10 million in coins — about $6 million of that still usable — from American garbage since launching the program in 2017.
Here’s how it works: Incinerated trash from as far away as Hawaii is shipped to the facility and sifted and sorted there. Machines separate items that have the color of a coin, the shape of a coin, or the weight of a coin. Then workers dig through the filtered scraps by hand.
PA Local spoke with Reworld’s director of communications, Nicolle Robles, by email to learn more about the process, the legality of maiming U.S. currency, the rarer finds, and more.
The exchange has been edited for clarity and length.
PA Local: Are there any laws against mangling or destroying coins that your company must navigate?
Robles: The coins are just part of the municipal garbage stream, so they are not damaged with any ill intent. It is a byproduct of the waste processing process. (Editor's note: "Fraudulent" intent is a key component of the law against altering, defacing, or mutilating U.S. coins.)
PA Local: Where exactly is the trash you’re sifting through coming from? What’s the geographic spread? Is it possible to specify?
Robles: The trash comes from our nearly 40 thermomechanical treatment facilities that are spread across North America. They span from Hawaii to New York.
PA Local: Are some coins more easily damaged in the process?
Robles: Any damage to coins occurs at our thermomechanical treatment facilities … Lighter, thinner coins are likely more susceptible to damage.
A vast number of coins come to us undamaged to the tune of almost $1 million every year, but a lot do become damaged because they are mixed in with regular municipal garbage — think the type of garbage you are throwing out in your kitchen bin at home.
Historically, we have redeemed the damaged coins with the U.S. Mint. The Mint has suspended the program for multiple years because they were concerned about internal resource challenges and counterfeit coins coming in from overseas. (Editor's note: The feds point to cases like this.)
To our knowledge, there is no evidence of significant amounts of counterfeit coins being submitted for redemption, and the coins we collect come from your household waste.
At the same time, the Federal Reserve has published a report about the lack of coins in the market. We look forward to working with these agencies to allow them to keep up with the demand.
PA Local: What happens to the coins after you recover them?
Robles: We use a third party to collect the coins and send them back into the U.S. banking system. We do not have any information on the exact locations of where the coins eventually are placed.
PA Local: Is there any advice you have for people who are looking to reduce the amount of coins they are losing to the trash?
Robles: Be conscious of what you are throwing away, especially when doing your spring cleaning. We believe most of the coins we receive aren’t thrown away on purpose, but instead are mixed in between your sofa cushions or in your junk drawers. It all adds up!
With the rise of contactless payment methods, we thought there would have been a drop off in the number of coins we receive, but that is not the case. The facility sees a steady stream of coins with no signs of it slowing down.
PA Local: What are the rarest coins you've found?
Robles: Do Chuck E. Cheese tokens count? We do not expressly seek out “rare” coins. They are few and far between, and likely damaged.
—Tanisha Thomas, newsletter writer
Wall Street Journal subscribers can read its full report on Reworld here. | 
