False Sustainability Claims by Crowdfunding Online Marketplace

Unfortunately, these claims by wearthlondon are completely false and misleading. Making jewellery out of recycled metal, whether that’s silver or gold, does not reduce the demand for mining. In fact the complete opposite.

When recycled metal is taken out of the supply chain, it means that metal must be mined to replace it. This is because demand for gold outstrips supply. There is already a significant amount of recycled gold in the jewellery supply chain and if this was enough to satisfy demand that would be amazing. Unfortunately, it’s not, and this is why gold mining continues. Taking recycled metal out of the supply chain to make jewellery is the exact opposite of reducing demand for mining. For a more in-depth look at why recycled gold is the biggest threat to the progress made in gold sourcing then see our ‘greenwashing in the jewellery industry’ article, which explores this issue further.

What’s most concerning about these false claims is that when you search for ‘ethical jewellery’, wearthlondon are one of the first results to come up, despite not being truly ethical. This is a great example how a business with a big budget can manipulate search engine results to promote false information.

Not only are customers at risk of making a purchase decision that actually continues to harm the environment, but investors are too, as wearthlondon are in the middle of a crowdfunding campaign.

If you are looking to invest in a business that can be relied on provide accurate information about sustainability issues around jewellery then steer well clear of these wearth, and look at the brands we recommend on our blog instead.