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An increasing number of jewellery brands are advertising recycled gold as a significant solution to the ongoing climate crisis, with some even claiming that it’s ‘saving the planet’.
‘Children learn from an early age that recycling is good for the planet, reduces the mountains of landfill waste, and means less use of resource,’ ARM explains.
The messaging is accessible, appealing to consumers concerned about the environmental issues associated with traditional gold mining. What many don’t discuss is how reusing gold has in fact been a common practice for centuries, because gold is an eternally renewable resource that can be easily melted and refined time and time again. Recycling gold is nothing new, and certainly not a practice that calls for a standing ovation as a single approach to environmental awareness.
It’s important to mention here that recycled gold is technically less environmentally impactful than newly mined gold. Whilst 1 gram of mined gold generates 36,410 grams of greenhouse gases, the recycled gold equivalent generates only 53 grams. In other words, that’s 686 times – or 99.8% less carbon dioxide being released into the air.
It's worth bearing in mind that local gold - gold that is recycled and sold in the UK - is further less impactful on the environment than gold shipped around the globe.
All this being said, recycled gold has never been a complete solution to global warming. The substitution effect – the environmental impact of the primary resource displaced by a secondary resource – cannot justify a green and carbon-free advantage for gold. Not only is there high demand for gold across various industries – from jewellery to medicine, automotive and technology – gold is mined for its value and plays a role as a currency. Unlike other metals or materials, an increased recycled supply will not prevent the mining of gold. In fact, ARM data reveals that the volume of “recycled” gold refined between 2018 and 2021 increased by 34%, while mine production source remained stable over these four years.
Due diligence requirements of the different industry schemes for sourcing ‘recycled’ gold are currently too weak, with no standardised auditing system. This creates loopholes that allow problematic gold to find its way into legitimate supply chains; that’s gold linked to conflict, organised crime, money laundering, tax evasion, industrial-scale mining, child labour and sanctioned Russian individuals or companies. Research has shown that refineries certified to best practice standards carry out their due diligence for recycled gold only until the first supplier, without knowing where this gold re-entered the market and the risk associated (add source). This makes it easy for dodgy sources to offload tainted gold and refiners to rebrand it as ‘recycled’. Goldsmith Christina Malle delves deeper into these murky waters with a great article written for Ethical Metalsmiths. The solution to this problem is two-pronged.
As highlighted by Christina T. Miller in May 2023:
“[The question of how ‘recycled’ is defined] can be difficult to navigate because the jewelry industry is still working to develop consensus. To what extent can users of the definitions be accountable to them? For example, is it a legally binding, mandated by a standard, or collectively agreed upon definition? Generally, recycled gold can be understood as gold that has been previously refined.”
The Precious Metals Impact Forum identifies that definitions currently allow recycled gold to be "artificially created" by converting freshly mined gold that has never seen a consumer. As such, they make a distinction between recycled goldand reprocessed gold.By their definitions, recycled gold is recovered from any product containing less than 2% of gold in weight, destined to be discarded, and returned to a refiner or other downstream intermediate processor to begin a new life cycle. Meanwhile, reprocessed gold is produced from any product containing more than 2% of gold in weight with the simple purpose of changing its state (e.g. bullion melted to create jewellery, jewellery melted to become a bar being sent to a refinery, unsold, used or broken jewellery being melted to create something new, manufacturing scraps, etc.).
The Jewelry Glossary Project differentiates between post-consumer recycled (‘materials such as metals and gemstones recovered from used consumer products for reuse in new products’) and pre-consumer recycled (‘recovered material by-products of manufacturing or materials reclaimed from uncirculated consumer goods used to make new products.’) By their general definition of ‘recycled’ gold, ‘Bullion containing any non-recycled metal or manufacturing by-product reintroduced back into the same production line are NOT recycled.’
Meanwhile, SCS Global Services concludes that a material is recycled if it is ‘used, reused or reclaimed,’ enabling ANY recovered gold – whether swept from the floors or benches of jewellery makers or taken from old tooth fillings – to be considered ‘recycled’. As per definitions like this one, it’s possible for ‘recycled gold’ to constitute material that has a very short journey from mine to recycled feedstock. “Gold sits in the bank for a day or 50 years, but as soon as it is sold, it is labeled ‘recycled' just because it has changed ownership.”
“Webelieve the definition of‘recycled’ gold should encompass only that which is strictly post-consumer waste; aligning with the legal and normative definitions of recycled material in general.”
EU countries, the UK and Switzerland - where most gold is traded or refined - define recycling as the reprocessing of waste material and then define waste as discarded material. The US defines recycling as the processing of materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash.
According to these legal and regulatory definitions, an old piece of jewellery, a coin or bar or a manufacturing by-product cannot be considered waste, because it is not something that is destined to be discarded or trashed. We do not see landfills full of gold jewellery, so why can an old piece of jewellery or manufacturing scrap be repurposed into fine gold and instantly benefit from a green image and supposed zero-carbon footprint, just like recycled plastic bottles that really wouldhave ended up as polluting rubbish?
The cementation of this definition would help us focus our recycling efforts on the real problems the world is facing; like a lack of formal e-waste recycling facilities worldwide.
At Lebrusan Studio, we view the world through the lens of the Economic Doughnut, concerned simultaneously with the socioeconomic needs of society and the boundaries of our planet’s natural eco-systems, upon which we all rely. From this perspective, working exclusively with reclaimed materials is a disregard for the 100 million people worldwide whose lives depend on mining. As gold prices have risen in recent decades, the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector has too expanded, and as long as gold prices remain high, there is no indication that gold mining by local communities will cease.
“Cutting off ASM supply chains or making them invisible under the guise of ‘recycled’ gold perpetuates informality within supply chains,” ARM explains. A lack of formality leaves miners and their communities at greater risk of unfair prices, unsafe working conditions, exploitation and even affiliation with conflict groups. “Not engaging with ASM is likely the biggest missed opportunity for gold supply chains to have a real positive social and environmental impact, ensuring that communities benefit directly from their mineral wealth.”
We urge jewellers like us to consider the breadth of their activities as a balancing act. To engage exclusively with recycled gold is to overlook other social, economic and political issues that we, as members of the jewellery industry, are also responsible for acknowledging.
When understood, described and used mindfully, recycled gold is a chance to make new from old; to enjoy beautiful jewellery without proactively contributing to further extractive activities. “It makes a lot of sense to reuse and recycle these minerals, because they're not going to biodegrade” explains Danielle Keller Aviram, sustainable researcher and analyst. “There is more and more research proving that all the gold that was ever mined since the beginning of human history is still existing with us above ground. We're talking about hundreds and thousands of tons of gold. I see a great opportunity to reuse these materials because they have these great characteristics that they can be recast and remelted again and again and again, without ever impacting their performance.”
But if we are to make the very best of this opportunity, we need to discuss recycled gold with nuance, recognising that provenance plays a huge role in the extent to which recycled gold is truly beneficial to our planet. For the sake of mutual understanding, we suggest a three-tiered classification scheme for recycled gold:
Local Recycled Gold | Tier 1“Waste gold” |
Recycled Gold | Tier 2“Circular gold” |
Recycled Gold | Tier 3“Unknown gold” |
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Subsequently, we also know we need to see the following changes:
Here at Lebrusan Studio, we know that jewellery has the potential to change the world, one gram of gold at a time. In order to truly harness this potential, we must refuse to accept the bare minimum as ‘ethical’ and work hard to ensure we are truly making the best of the circular options available to us.If you want to chat further about our proposal, please get in touch.
It's possible to embrace the beautiful materials that Mother Nature offers us without harming our beautiful planet. By asking questions, simplifying supply chains and sharing our knowledge with the world, we can achieve this balance.
