JEWELRY WITH A FAMILIAR RING
Brands recycling precious metals
Using recycled precious metals in jewelry isn’t exactly a new idea. In fact, brands and artisans have been integrating old metals such as silver and gold into their collections for generations.
“Jewellers have been recycling metals since this craft began,” says Charisse Ford, chief marketing officer for Pandora Americas.
Precious metals are non-renewable natural resources, after all, so the practice of reusing these materials is not only sustainable — it simply makes sense.
Ford says this tradition of recycling and reusing metals — and even gemstones — has long been a source of inspiration for the jewelry giant (Pandora pieces are sold in more than 90 countries across six continents), as it churns out its more than 122 million pieces of jewelry each year.
“If anything, it has made us more steadfast in our commitment to social responsibility and ethical sourcing,” Ford explains of the scope of its production offerings.
CRAFTING FACILITIES
In fact, Ford says more than 90 per cent of the silver, and more than 80 per cent of the gold, used at Pandora’s “crafting facilities” in Thailand come from recycled sources; with the additional materials — the rough grains of metal — sourced from “responsible” refineries. But it’s not looking to stop there.
“Recently, Pandora commissioned an independent environmental study by sustainability consultancy firm Trucost that showed the impact on nature can be reduced to less than five per cent when using recycled gold and silver rather than the mined alternative,” she says. “For cubic zirconia or man-made stones, the environmental benefits are even bigger when comparing to mined diamonds.”
But what some consumers may not be aware of is that recycled precious metals require a portion of new metal additives in order to improve durability and appearance.
“It’s approximately 50 per cent new and old gold each time,” says Dane Stevens, co-owner of Cavalier in Gastown, Vancouver. “You can’t just melt the gold down and make a ring because, what will happen, is the silver, copper and zinc — called the alloys — will bubble and they will give you a really lowend casting.”
Stevens says recycling old gold is a good way for clients to hold on to the sentimentality of a piece of jewelry — even when they hate the design. “Say, someone brings in their mom’s old ring and they say, ‘I don’t like it. No offence mom, but I hate it,’” he says with a laugh. “They can either pay with that gold, use it as currency, and we can give them a scrap gold price.”
Stevens says trade-in value for gold can sometimes be less than people imagine. Basically, it’s not one-for-one.
“Some customers come in with a pile of old gold thinking it’s the same as buying new gold and it’s as easy as making a flat trade,” he says. “Whereas, after factoring the smaller pure gold yield after refining, it’s usually around half of that pile, plus the labour to rebuild, design and set the new stones is added on top to the ring.”
But whichever way people decide to recycle their old items, they can rest assured that, these days, the precious metals will be used again. Stevens says it’s a win-win for jeweller and the customer.
“People are so happy to leave with something shiny and new,” he says.
WEARABLE METAL
At the end of every month, the Cavalier team takes its acquired gold to a refinery called Technic Inc. in either Surrey or Richmond B.C., to be melted down. Then, using the pure gold “casting grains” returned after the refining process, the team casts the new pieces in-house using a mix of gold and other alloys including silver, copper and zinc.
“That makes it wearable metal,” Stevens explains.
So, why doesn’t the small jewelry shop refine its own precious metals? According to Stevens, it’s not a sustainable practice. “We don’t do the refining here because you have to use a lot of acids and it’s not a very healthy thing,” he says. “If you’re doing small-batch refining, that probably wouldn’t be the best thing for anybody.”
Essentially, the cost of refining the precious metal — plus the chemicals involved — may not make the process entirely feasible, fiscally or environmentally, for businesses and their customers.
Joëlle Latreille, founder and owner of Montreal-based jewelry brand Le Cubicule, has been working with recycled metals including silver, gold, palladium and platinum for her designs since 2009.
“The environment has always been important to me and I try to be as green as possible both in my personal and professional life,” she says. “When I learned about recycled metals, I knew that’s what I had to work with.”
Latreille says that while using recycled metals can be more costly, it’s worth it in the long run.
“What is different is the process of acquiring the metal, which in the case of recycled metals consists of already existing metal from different sources — old jewelry, silverware, coins, dental scrap, etc. — that is then melted and refined, as opposed to newly mined metals,” she says.
Shoppers looking for an alternative to recycled gold pieces can opt for fair-trade gold, which is new gold that has been ethically mined. Vancouver-based Kevin Hume is just one example of a Canadian designer who creates bespoke jewelry solely from fair trade and ethically sourced materials.
(For those curious about the status of mining new materials in Canada, The Mining Association of Canada established an initiative, dubbed Towards Sustainable Mining, in 2004 that aims to have Canadian mining companies meet “society’s needs for minerals, metals and energy products in the most socially, economically and environmentally responsible way,” according to the association’s website. Participation in the program is mandatory for all MAC members.)
ECO-CONSCIOUSNESS
Pandora is looking to further the awareness of eco-consciousness practices in jewelry design and production on a more mass-market scale with its latest campaign, dubbed DO by Pandora. It’s as much a response to the company’s own conscience as it is a direct reply to consumer demands, according to Ford. “Now more than ever, consumers are supporting brands that share the values important to them and, like many of our consumers, we believe in upholding the ideals of social and environmental responsibility,” she explains. “DO is inspired by female empowerment as well as Pandora’s renewed commitment to stand for something that every woman can be proud to wear. DO is also the chance for us as a brand to tell the world what we DO and what we believe in, from hand-finishing quality pieces of jewelry to being socially responsible.”
At the end of the day, it’s about creating products the company — and its employees — can be proud of, in addition to being pieces shoppers want to wear. And it’s an ethos she hopes more big brands will embrace in the future.
“Today’s consumer is the most educated we’ve ever seen and they have come to expect that sustainability does not have to come at the cost of quality, whether they’re shopping for groceries or luxury goods,” Ford says. “When you see beautiful recycled metals in our pieces, and imagine how many recycled options are available globally, it seems crazy that more brands aren’t using recycled materials.”