The archive · Product Ideas · Marketing decision · 2023
Hana Bank's Money Dream pillow turns shredded unfit banknotes into sleepable recycling
South Korea's Hana Bank stuffed pillows with ground, unfit banknotes so that wanting one would recycle a waste stream nobody else touched.
Hana Bank
What it had to solve
In South Korea over 600 million unfit banknotes are discarded every year, and none of them are recycled. Hana Bank and agency the Watermelon wanted that discarded material to become something people actually wanted, so that wanting it would create a recycling loop.
How it works
In South Korea over 600 million unfit banknotes are discarded every year, and none of them are recycled — the notes are treated as dead weight rather than material. Hana Bank and independent agency the Watermelon set out to give that waste a second life.
Their answer was the Money Dream pillow. The agency developed a new type of pillow filling by combining ground banknote waste with an eco-friendly material, using roughly 5 million won (around US$3,800) in banknotes per pillow. The product turns an invisible waste stream into something a customer can hold, sleep on and want to own.
Creating demand for the pillows meant that more discarded banknotes would be recycled — people would be helping to protect the environment without even realising it. The pillows became popular lucky-draw gifts for Hana Bank customers, and the bank targeted recycling 20 tonnes (about 142.4 billion won) of unfit banknotes through 2023.
The work is preserved in D&AD's awards archive as an example of circular design that works through desire rather than duty.
Why it lands
- A pillow gives the shredded notes a reason to exist again, so the waste problem is solved by the product's appeal, not by guilt.
- Holding roughly 5 million won of real banknotes makes the recycling tangible instead of abstract.
- A bank-made item carried cultural meaning for Korean customers, so the pillow was wanted rather than merely accepted.
- Once customers wanted pillows, the bank's demand for scrap notes created a pull that scaled recycling naturally.
What it did
Because the pillow was desirable, owning one meant recycling banknotes without realising it: Hana Bank said it aimed to recycle 20 tonnes (about 142.4 billion won) of unfit banknotes through 2023, and the work is preserved in D&AD's awards archive.
What you can take
A waste stream nobody recycles becomes a working system when the product made from it is desirable: give recycled material a reason to be wanted and demand does the recycling work.
Since then
Hana Bank ran the Money Dream campaign as a way to boost its digital platform while giving customers 'wealth energy', and said it planned to expand the effort and recycle a total of 20 tonnes (about 142.4 billion won) of unfit banknotes by the end of 2023. The idea later entered D&AD's awards archive, standing as an example of making a waste stream valuable enough to recycle itself.
Sources
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card