A method and associated apparatus for disinfecting at least one banknote, each banknote including a substrate, visual data, and a security feature, including disposing the at least one banknote in an oxygen-free environment, and exposing the at least one banknote to a temperature and for a duration sufficient to disinfect the at least one banknote and not compromise the security feature and the visual data, where to disinfect the at least one banknote includes to significantly deactivate, kill, or eliminate one or more pathogens from the at least one banknote.