Jewellery retail group Pandora has announced it is now only sourcing recycled gold and silver for its products.
As part of the business’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, Pandora had set a five-year target in 2020 to only source recycled gold and silver for all its jewellery. But the company said it reached this point in December 2023, ahead of schedule.
By using recycled instead of newly mined silver and gold, Pandora estimates it will remove 58,000 tonnes of CO2 every year. Mining requires more energy and resources than recycling, and Pandora is working with the calculation the carbon footprint of recycled silver is one-third compared to mined silver, while the recycling of gold emits less than 1% of the carbon emissions from mining new gold.
Pandora CEO Alexander Lacik said: “Precious metals can be recycled forever without any loss of quality.
“Silver originally mined centuries ago is just as good as new, and improved recycling can significantly reduce the climate footprint of the jewellery industry.”
The retailer said all its suppliers have switched their operations to only source materials that are certified recycled according to the Responsible Jewellery Council Chain of Custody.
New processes and equipment has been required to ensure suppliers can segregate mined and recycled gold and silver across the entire supply chain, including sorting, melting, and manufacturing. More than 100 Pandora employees have been involved in the transition work.
Pandora still has directly mined gold and silver in its inventory, but expects it will be in a position to craft all new jewellery with 100% recycled silver and gold from the second half of 2024.
Recycled metal sources for jewellery can come from discarded electronics, old jewellery, silverware, manufacturing scrap and other waste from industry. Pandora said that once collected, recycled silver undergoes a refining process where impurities are removed, and the metal is recast to be used again.
Read more about sustainability in the retail supply chain on Green Retail World
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1 thought on “Precious metals: Pandora now only sourcing recycled gold and silver for jewellery”
Wow this is great to see!