All that glisters is recycled
Sep 26th, 2007 by Jenny
Last night we took the plunge and ordered our rings from www.greenkarat.com… so now we can’t wait to see them and report back to you all what recycled gold actually like.
Rings from GreenKarat each have a ‘Green Assay’: a list of the green credentials of that particular ring, including the recycled metal content, details of the refinery process used, and any ecological information available about the practices of the jeweller or goldsmith who made the ring.
Our chosen wedding rings are made primarily of recycled gold and are refined by a secondary refiner – a refiner that will only work with recycled metals. The refiner has also met the ISO 14001 environmental management standards, which require organisations to minimise how their operations negatively affect the environment (including changes to air, water or land), and to continually improve on their practices. According to Greenkarat, refining uses dangerous chemicals and lots of water, so a refinery’s environmental commitment can make a big difference to the impact it makes.
The assay for our rings also says that fair trade standards are not applicable to our rings as they were not sourced from an underprivileged community, although some other rings on the website have fair trade credentials too.
I have found the whole thing very interesting and I am looking forward to seeing the rings, which will be of white gold with a ‘stone’ finish. (Apparently ‘stone’ is a kind of textured finish rather than a polished finish, which was the other option!)
We also discovered that Greenkarat now have a wedding list option where you can get your friends and relations to donate old pieces of gold jewellery and other items, instead of giving you a present. Their old gold gifts are then melted down and made into your wedding rings. I love the idea of having a ring made from gold that has a story to tell and a history in your own family. An entirely new take on the ’something old, something new’ tradition! If any of the other green brides out there go for this service I hope they’ll tell us all about it!