How Does Jewellery Recycling Work?
If you’ve recently cleaned out your jewellery box, chances are you found some hidden treasure. We all have things that sit collecting dust, and maybe you have items of value that you’re unsure of what to do with. Whether you have a sentimental piece of jewellery that you want to repurpose, or an expensive piece that you no longer wear, recycling could be an option for you!
Did you know that gold has been in circulation for hundreds of years, dating back to Roman times? Gold is actually the oldest recycled item on the planet! It’s not a new practice, but gold recycling is certainly picking up speed. For example, the company Dell makes jewellery with repurposed gold from recycled computer parts. As the recycling process is fine-tuned, it may be possible to stop mining virgin metals altogether in the future.
Rather than stripping more from our Earth, we can bring new life and value to precious metals that have already been mined. Giving your outdated jewellery new life will not only bring joy to you, but it’ll also help the environment.
How is jewellery recycled?
The first step is to look for impurities in the metal which are melted off in the smelting process. Often times gold will be mixed with other types of metal, like nickel for example, because in its purest form, gold is dense, heavy, and soft. Mixing it with other alloys makes the gold more durable and wearable. As the recycling process begins, these alloys will be separated to figure out the karat of the gold (24-karat = 100% pure gold, and everything else is simply a fraction of that).
- Once the purification process is complete, the gold can be molded and shaped, bringing it new life. Thankfully it’s possible to recycle gold with little to no degradation of its quality, so reusing the metal is a great option.
Why is it so important?
As with recycling plastic and cans, it’s best to reuse precious metals whenever possible, rather than digging for new materials. There are adverse effects of mining, such as deforestation, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, and other ecosystem disruptions. This can often occur in areas where gold miners have been at work. In addition, harmful chemicals such as mercury and cyanide are involved in the process of mining, polluting the environments where gold is mined. Recycling gold can help reduce this enormous strain.
What are my options?
Repurposing your precious metals (gold, silver, and platinum) can be done in a few different ways. The first is by selling your outdated jewellery to a company that buys your metals ethically, as we do at Minty Gold & Silver Exchange. We purchase your jewellery so it can be recycled back into the market. After taking your precious metals to the refinery they’ll be melted down, and repurposed into things like new jewellery, electronics, or even financial products.
The second is to upcycle. If you don’t want to part with your pieces for sentimental reasons, we totally get it! But you can still repurpose your jewellery so that your valuable asset doesn’t go unused. By bringing your metals to a custom jewellery designer, such as this one in the Burlington area, it’s possible to get them melted down and transformed into new, one-of-a-kind pieces. With this option in mind, you can create a piece for yourself to enjoy, or pass down the value for family members. For example, a mother may wish to do this for her daughters.
Either way, recycling your precious metals is the most ethical choice. You can bring joy and contribute to a sustainable process rather than buying new. Plus, there’s financial gain in it for you too. It’s a win-win situation!
