ISTANBUL

An Istanbul-based tech company has manufactured a paper money disinfection module for ATMs to remove bacteria and viruses from paper money.

"The module we developed makes all ATMs hygienic and environmentally friendly in 15 minutes," Furkan Erucan, the Co-Founder of Money Shower, told Anadolu Agency.

With instant disinfection technology, we prevent people from being infected by all microorganisms, including the coronavirus, he said.

"There are now 26,000 bacterias of 500 types on average on banknotes circulating in Europe. These numbers are enough to make people sick," he warned, underlining the absence of efforts to disinfect paper money.

"Countries collect paper money, burn them in banknote centers and print new ones to circulate only when major epidemic diseases strike," he said.

He also noted that China is collecting and burning paper money from the market in order to prevent the spread of the virus as part of its fight against COVID-19.

"This disinfection method is quite inadequate," he said.

Erucan explained that the firm had previously developed the idea once they learned that ultraviolet (UVC) light eliminated bacteria and viruses.

He and the firm's co-founder, Kubra Karakoc, sough to improve UVC light technology and test it on ATMs, obtaining patent rights.

"We sell products to one of Turkey's leading banks," he said, adding that after pilot trials, the company aims to integrate the model into ATMs of major banks 2023.

*Writing by Aysu Bicer