There are two big aspects of the jewellery industry that are generally the subject of ‘greenwashing’ claims: gold and gemstones (including diamonds).  

The mining, refining, and manufacturing of these raw materials into jewellery are what cause the problems and there are issues all along the supply chain that the industry is keen to put a greener spin on. These are mostly to do with environmental damage and exploitation of workers and have involved grave human rights abuses and funding conflict.

Greenwashing Jewellery: Gold and Silver

The big red herring with gold, silver, and platinum is the emergence of ‘recycled’ metals, which are marketed as a more ‘eco-friendly’ or ‘ethical’ choice than newly mined gold.  As with any greenwashing claim, there is a slight element of truth, however, it’s massively overblown and the situation in which the benefits of recycled metals are most applicable almost never happen.

If it was a straight swap between jewellery made from 100% newly mined metal and jewellery made from 100% recycled metal, then some benefit may apply, however, most jewellery contains between 30-60% recycled metals already, and always has done.

What's maybe worse, is that they deflect and detract from the genuinely positive work by the likes of ARM and the Fairtrade Foundation, to improve the actual mining process itself.  The mining of precious metals will continue as long as the price of these metals remains high enough for it to be profitable and does not depend on the amount of these metals that are recycled.

It’s the demand for gold that keeps mining going and anyone who is making and marketing jewellery is contributing to that demand.

Fairmined and Fairtrade gold are both better for the environment than ‘recycled’ gold.

At present, mine production still accounts for the largest proportion of the gold used every year at approximately 75% . The shortfall made up by recycling, primarily from jewellery, is a simple process that has been going on for millennia. At present, just 10% of gold demand worldwide is used in electronics.

Fairtrade and Fairmined gold offer a far better alternative and have tangible, verifiable benefits. The mislabeling of recycled gold as ethical is damaging to the efforts and reputation of these sources. Essentially taking the food out of their mouths.

Fairmined and Fairtrade have both been around and their products available since the mid 1900s. So, if a jewellery company hasn't incorporated them into their supply chain, it's because they don't want to.

The key takeaway from the recycled gold debate is that, if every single jeweller switched to 100% recycled gold tomorrow, nothing would change. The amount of gold mined would not decrease, the conditions in the mines would not improve and the environment would not regenerate. All the ills of gold mining would continue.  Literally, nothing would change. 

Whereas, if you buy Fairmined or Fairtrade gold you are helping to support small mining communities who do not use chemicals, who take care of their environment and who rely on the income that gold mining brings to improve and develop their communities.

To appreciate why recycled metals are not the answer to the woes of gold mining we have to take a step back and reflect on the status of precious metals as a commodity and not just as a material for making jewellery.

Gold is used in electronics and as a store of wealth all around the world. In 2019 the jewellery industry accounted for almost half of the global demand for gold at 48.5%, the next biggest sector was for investment at 29.19%, then central banks at 14.84% and lastly technology at 7.48%.

Most jewellery is made from around 60% recycled metal anyway. Gold has always been reused, people have never thrown away gold.  That’s not because of a deep commitment to recycling or the environment, but because gold has value as a commodity.  As long as the price of gold remains high enough for people to make a profit from mining it, then the mining will continue and that gold will still find its way into the gold supply chain.

It’s the demand for gold that keeps mining going and if you’re in the the jewellery industry you need to take responsibility for the fact that you are contributing to that demand, even if you use 100% recycled metal.

Gold only has to be used once to be considered recycled.  Gold mined in some hellhole mine in 2019 could easily be being resold as ‘recycled’ in 2020.  Unfortunately, the problems caused by gold mining can not be solved by ignoring them and pretending that using recycled gold does not rely on newly mined metal entering the supply chain.

Why do lots of jewellers use recycled gold?

Loads of jewellers have jumped on the ‘recycled gold’ bandwagon and that's because it's the easy choice.  You can change literally nothing about your business apart from some words on your website.

To become both a Fairmined or Fairtrade gold licensee takes both time and money, that using recycled metal does not. Making people think that the issue is recycling when in fact it is mining, is verbal sleight of hand and a trick to make people buy the product that benefits the jeweller and the industry rather than the environment and the miners.

But . . . . . recycling is good, right?

Yes, but it’s not a cure-all and each industry and material has its nuances. If there was loads of gold clogging up the oceans and killing animals then a great push to recycle more would be great, but that's not the case. If recycling gold was the answer then there wouldn't be a problem in the first place, as we’ve mentioned, close to 100% of the gold ever mined is either still being used for its original purpose or has been reused.

You have to take look at materials on a case by case basis; gold is not plastic and the damaging effects are different, so we need to tackle them differently.

With gold, you have to work with gold miners to manage their processes to ensure that once mining has finished the environment can regenerate.

Some gold recycling is very bad for the environment and workers. Gold recovered from electronics in countries such as Ghana can be devastating for the people and the environment.

Diamonds and the Kimberley Process

‘Blood diamonds’ are probably the most widely known issue in the jewellery industry supply chain and ever since the issues really came to the worlds attention in 2000, the jewellery industry has been trying to put a better spin on the whole affair. The jewellery industry was greenwashing before it was cool.

If there was a handbook for how to greenwash, the Kimberley Process (KP), created in the early 2000s would be it.  In many ways, the jewellery industry was greenwashing before it was cool in its attempts to limit the damage from the blood diamonds scandal. Initially, the KP was backed by organisations such as Global witness however they withdrew their support after a series of scandals.

The Kimberley Process has been heavily criticised since diamonds linked to killings in the diamond fields of Zimbabwe were allowed to enter the scheme and the international market from 2006. 

Since then, accusations of forced child labour and diamonds funding unrest in the CAR have further damaged the reputation of the KP.

So much so that it’s hard to believe in 2020, many jewellers still point to it when asked about “ethical diamonds’’.

Until fairly recently (at least March 2020), prominent online jeweller 77diamonds had a page on their website entitled ‘ethical diamonds’ which told users about the Kimberley Process.  As of September, no such page exists and there is no information about how 77diamonds source their diamonds.

In short, the Kimberley Process is no guarantee that your diamond is ‘ethical’.  The extremely precise definition of ‘conflict diamonds’ is striking for what it doesn’t include more than for what it does.

The KP defines ‘conflict diamonds’ as ‘rough diamonds used to finance wars against governments’.  

The Kimberly process has only ever regulated the sale of rough diamonds from any given country and has never been concerned with the conditions at the mines, the pay of workers or the environmental impact.

Learn more about the Kimberley process.

Lab-Grown Diamonds

Lab-grown diamonds have emerged in the last 10 years or so and are often aggressively marketed as a more ethical choice, overstating the downsides of mined diamonds while downplaying the impact their own business has.

There are many, many examples of the reductive narrative peddled by lab-grown diamond producers and retailers which look to promote a simple distinction. Lab-grown diamonds = Good. Mined diamonds = Bad.

Obviously mined diamonds have had their problems however not all mined diamonds leave misery and destruction in their wake.  Diamond mining can play a key role in nations development and support communities where little other economic opportunities exist.

The demonisation of small scale miners to sell a product which benefits only the vendor is as cynical and misleading as any of the claims by the traditional diamond industry. If lab-grown do gain significant market share and the prices of the mined diamonds suffer as the result, its the people at the very bottom of the supply chain who will suffer the most. 

Add to this that many lab-grown diamonds are set into items of jewellery made from untraceable metals and the claims about a deep commitment to the planet and people start to look hollow.  Descriptions of lab-grown diamond jewellery being made from 80% recycled gold are also common.

Environmental impact

Lab-grown diamonds take significant resources to produce and the facilities that make them, operate and maintain, not least electricity.

All lab-grown diamonds are grown from a sliver of mined diamond and revelations about Lab-grown blood diamonds being used in hypersonic missiles have damaged the claims by lab-grown diamond producers.