How using your old gold helps the environment.

This year’s recycling week takes places between 18-24 June, so we thought it would be an opportune time to get into the spirit of things and remind you about another form of recycling that you can take part in – recycling your gold.

So how does your gold jewellery contribute to the eco-friendly effort?

Firstly, although precious metals like gold require energy to mine and process, once they have been processed into their final forms, they are essentially “green”, in that when they wear out, go out of fashion, or simply change hands, they are not ploughed into expensive landfill sites. Because they retain a high intrinsic value, they tend to get recycled, and this applies to all your damaged, worn out or unwanted jewellery, coins, ingots etc.

Other items such as commemorative coins and medallions also get recycled through coin dealers, who buy them, hold them in stock, and often re-sell them to new owners. Furthermore, because precious metals can be recycled repeatedly with no degradation in quality, they are the ultimate naturally renewable resource.

When we take in your scrap gold, it’s then sold on to our bullion dealer, who then melts it down and uses it to manufacturer such things as new gold sheet, wire and clasps etc. Essentially these are the items we use to help finish, add design detail, and repair new and old jewellery.

So, even if you think you’re not really into the “green” revolution, when you bring in your unwanted gold to sell to us for cash, chances are it has originally come from a recycled source, and it will go on to be recycled again, completing a full circle of recycling.

Let’s not forget the sentimental value of gold

Once you’ve sold your old gold however it’s gone for good, but what if you actually want to keep your old jewellery because it’s a family heirloom or of sentimental value? That’s where you could consider two other forms of “recycling”; re-modelling and melting it down into something new.

In one of our previous blogs we talked about how re-modelling your old jewellery has become very popular and much more affordable. Yet another way of recycling your jewellery that’s available is melting it down.*

Sometimes a customer will bring in a piece of jewellery that they’ve inherited or that belonged to someone close to them that they don’t necessarily want to wear but they still want to hang onto. Rather than having it sat around gathering dust, they would like to keep the memory of that person with them.

For example, a customer recently bought in her aunty, grandmother and mother’s wedding rings and asked us to melt them down and use the gold to create a new ring that better suited her style and taste. You can read about a similar example in one of our case studies.

Similarly, a customer once bought a large amount of old gold jewellery that belonged to various members of his family over the years. Because there was so much of it, we were able to produce a new wedding band for him, as well as a matching solid bangle, a solid gold cross and a pair of matching pendants.

These options are appealing because even though you no longer have an original piece of jewellery, you can still have a lasting memory of your loved one close to you in a piece of jewellery that you are more likely to wear on a regular basis. One further option that you could consider is using the cash from the sale of your sentimental piece towards the cost of a new piece.

We hope this blog has given you some great ideas about how from just taking a different view of your jewellery, you can contribute to the eco-friendly effort, perhaps save yourself some cash, and even revitalize the memory of a loved once again. Do you have any sentimental jewellery stories that you’d like to share with us? We would love to hear about them, so please leave a comment below, or contact us here for more help with any questions about your jewellery.

* Please note that we can only recreate specific types of jewellery once a piece has been melted down. Before you bring your jewellery in please email us here or call us first on 0113 245 4040, to make sure that we can produce the type of jewellery you are considering.