Everyone claims their jewellery is made of recycled materials and ethically sourced stones but this is usually false advertising.

We all try in some way to reduce our carbon footprint. Or at least I know I do since most of my work revolves around using old jewellery to make new jewellery without needing to purchase anything new.

It’s nearly impossible to have a clean rap sheet and it isn’t for lack of trying. For example, you can make a chain 100% by hand using your client’s old gold because you don’t want to purchase a factory-made chain, but as soon as you add a factory-made clasp to it, it’s not longer 100% “green”. The factory where the clasp was made might be a great factory that pays fair wages and treats employees well, but it’s still a factory that leaves a carbon footprint. See what I mean?

And everyone loves to use the term “ethically-sourced stones” but more often than not, they have no idea where their stones came from! I can claim that I buy all my stones locally to support my local economy and I buy them from a reputable business that sources them ethically from people who source them ethically. BUT…they were still mined from the earth which causes damage to nature and sometimes its done in undesirable mining conditions and cut by someone who likely isn’t paid a fair wage. So…again…do you see what I mean?

So, what it comes down to is that you have to make the best decision you can when buying anything and then be ok with the fact that part of your purchase had some type of environmental impact because that’s just the reality of buying most things nowadays!

Ways to try and make environmentally responsible jewellery purchases might include:

Pick a business that at least talks about trying to be “green”. Although they may exaggerate how “green” they are, they are likely still trying to reduce their environmental impact and something is better than nothing.
Say no to shipping if you can pick it up in person. Extra win for the environment if you can pick it up on a day you are already running errands to minimize another day of transportation pollution.
Say no to packaging. More and more of my clients don’t want any packaging because they wear their jewellery out of my studio and have a jewellery box at home.
Donate your old costume jewellery that’s in good condition to a second-hand store instead of throwing it away.
Consider melting down your old silver and gold jewellery to make something new!