This is the first I've heard of this as well, this is so interesting! I hope the USA adopts plastic money.

Yeah unfortunately your right :/

Are there actual benefits to using plastic money?

I remember several years ago my friend was showing off his australian currency and how it is a polymer bill. he basically went into how the bill is more durable etc etc, and then he gave it one firm tug to demonstrate and the bill split in half right there and then. i nearly coughed out a spleen laughing so hard!

Polymer bills are fine by me, they generally do last longer than regular paper bills, but i think if the edge has a little tear, its very easy to rip right through the rest of the bill like butter. i am assuming that's what happened to my friend.

In Australia all out of circulation plastic money is recycled and turned into wheelie bins  apparently it takes S100,000 worth of notes = one wheelie bin
as to counterfeiting yes it happens but they are easily identifiable as they can't copy the see through holographic window and twenty other security features, plus the counterfeits are made off paper. it is wear and tear that makes them redundant and they can feed used ones  through teller machines.

The U.S sucks at adopting anything useful. They like to use a technology until it is acient and it's deemed necessary to move on. The majority of Americans hate change and I'm speaking as an American.

If change was actually worth something then it wouldn't be so bad.  Just think in 1920s you could buy 10 burgers for probably less than 1 dollar.   When I first started driving in the late 90s gasoline was less than a dollar a gallon.  It is more of a problem of the USA dollar eroding..  What do you expect when the fed just prints trillions to bail out companies that shouldn't have been bailed out.

I remember a good few years ago there was plastic £5 notes here in the UK.  they seem to have went back to paper though.

done a little more research. it was being made by the northern bank in Northern Ireland.  there was a major robbery and the bank has stopped making them.  

You couldn't be more correct.

I've never understood peoples fear of change...as long as its good change I welcome it with open arms!

Canada has been on a great streak lately. I used to think the US was a bit better, but it seems the Canucks are doing more cool things than we are at a geometric rate.....Except for win Stanley Cups :-p

At any rate, polymer money is cool. Canada also de-valued their coinage which saved them billions. The US should follow their lead - given the propensity of our monies, we could save between $10 and $15 billion USD by de-valuing our coinage.