Recycled gold is a greener and less costly alternative to freshly mined gold: recycled gold comes from melting down existing gold, which is then reshaped to create a new piece of jewellery. In principle, using recycled gold means not creating new waste, limiting the depletion of natural resources, while not producing any additional greenhouse gases. However, many questions arise about the true impact of recycled gold. Don't panic, we'll explain it all!
First of all, gold is a very precious material that is very rarely thrown away: recycling gold is therefore a very common and widespread practice. Since gold was discovered more than 6000 years ago, only 2% of the volume of mined gold has disappeared. What's more, the annual volume of recycled gold is enough to meet the annual demand for gold. Given this, it's reasonable to wonder why 3260 tonnes of gold were mined worldwide in 2018.
In reality, although half of all gold is used for jewellery, jewellery is not the main reason gold is mined: gold is a precious metal that inherently holds value, since it is a safe-haven asset. In 2017, 30% of the world's gold production went into investments. For this reason, many people have an interest in continuing to mine. Reducing, or even stopping, gold mining would therefore only be possible if the value of gold (that is, its price) fell drastically or if mining reserves (the stock of gold available in the world) could no longer be exploited.
Gold mining has many ecological consequences. First, it dramatically transforms natural landscapes into "lunar" ones: trees are cleared to dig into the earth. Gold mining also requires many chemicals, such as mercury or cyanide, which pollute the air, water and land. Finally, gold mining uses a staggering amount of water.
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Gold mining also has a strong social impact. In most cases, local communities living on gold mines are evicted, often without financial compensation or rehousing. In addition, the chemicals used in gold mining, such as mercury, are very dangerous to the health of living beings (humans, animals and plants). Finally, mines very often offer very poor working conditions: child labour is fairly common and very little protective equipment is given to workers.
Recycled gold: an effective way not to support mining?
On the one hand, choosing recycled gold is a way of not supporting mining, as no new material is produced. However, the term "recycled gold" allows manufacturing waste to be used. Take luxury brands, which produce around 50% manufacturing waste per piece: this means these brands can use newly mined gold to make some of their pieces, then use their own waste as "recycled gold". While this does reduce waste, it has no impact at all on gold mining.
So gold mining itself doesn't seem to be something that can be adjusted according to consumption. Even so, buying recycled gold means you don't directly take part in the continuous mining of gold.
Around the world, 100 million people depend on the gold mining industry to survive. Buying only recycled gold therefore raises questions, as it holds back the development of certain parts of the globe. However, we feel that the traditional gold mining industry offers indecent working conditions, which are only very rarely sustainable.
Another alternative is possible: Fairmined-certified gold. This label guarantees that the gold is mined in legal, independent, environmentally monitored, small-scale artisanal mines. It ensures the traceability of the gold and transparency about mining conditions. Fairmined-certified gold therefore meets several requirements, such as no child labour, effective protective equipment, the right of miners to form unions, and job stability.
