MILLIONS of pounds worth of used bank notes are being ploughed into the fields of Wharfedale.

Farmers in Bramhope, Pool-in-Wharfedale and Arthington are cashing in on a free compost from a local recycling company that is literally made from old money.

But fortune-seekers thinking of scouring the countryside for a fast buck should note that it has all been shredded, mixed and thoroughly recycled before it ends up on the land.

It really is a case of Where there's muck there's brass' as farmers spread the compost containing tonnes of old Bank of England notes The rich mixture is provided for them by Nutramulch Yorkshire Ltd, based at Arthington Quarry.

Nutramulch manager Rob Lewis said: "When they say where there's muck there's brass' I don't think they meant this! It's amazing really.

"There are banknotes everywhere around the site and you get used to it, you can see it's money but it arrives shredded and looks like confetti.

"The notes arrive in fits and starts but we must take around seven to ten tonnes a week. It's dense stuff and, although it varies on the notes, on average we're well into the millions per tonne so I think we could be into billions of pounds over a year.

"They don't mix the notes so it comes in as all tenners or twenties or, sometimes, all fifties which is quite impressive and can drive you nuts if you think about it!

"We use on average £300,000 per tonne of compost. It's mostly old notes that have been returned, or ones from a bad print run and every now and again we get some that have been covered in dye.

"The notes arrive already pressurised into blocks, and the first thing we do is bang them all through our shredder and blend them in and then the resulting compost is used mostly for local agriculture.

"We get money from the gate fees we charge and then the farmers get the compost as a free service, it can be spread on the fields and people can make top-soil from it. The farmers seem very happy with the arrangement!"

The company started business as a tenant in the Black Hill Road quarry in November, 2005 and - despite a slow start and having to cope with a major fire last year - is now taking in 600 tonnes of waste a week.

Mr Lewis said: "The biggest barrier for us is the paperwork, the amount required is astronomical and everything has to be done bang-on.

"But I think we're getting on top of that. People are realising we're here and we also take in garden waste and are being used by the local landscape gardeners "It used to just be me and another fellow but now there's six of us, and we'll be tendering for Leeds' green waste this year. Composting, done right, is great and we're in a quarry so we don't really upset anybody down there."

The firm produces around 60 tonnes of compost for every 100 tonnes of waste it also accepts green, wood and paper waste - it processes.