Canada’s federal government has announced that the country’s paper-cotton banknotes will be replaced by plastic ones in 2011.

The measure is intended to protect the country’s currency against counterfeiting. The new bills will be made from a polymer material, meaning that they will be harder to counterfeit, recyclable and two to three times more resistant to tearing, according to the Bank of Canada.

The material will come from an Australian company and will see Canada join a group of countries already using polymer notes, including Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and Romania.