Dollar coins would represent a huge savings over the bills we now use, it says. Most dollar bills last between two and four years while dollar coins have an average life of 35 years or more. Using these figures, a single dollar coin produced for about 18 cents could replace up to 17 dollar bills that cost $1 to print. That’s an 82-cent saving per coin. As a result of their short lifespans, approximately 3.2 billion dollar bills are removed from circulation each year due to wear and tear. Most are shredded and wind up in landfills, adding 7 million pounds of waste — or about 900 dump trucks. Coins that become worn could be melted and reformed into strip metal for minting new coins.