Earth Day and Recycled Jewelry
Since 1970, the world has been celebrating Earth Day. This is a time when we demonstrate our support for the protection of the environment. People all over the world have been increasing the amount of recycling of paper and plastics to protect the environment, but people have actually been recycling gold, silver and diamonds for centuries.
Gold and silver are very easy to recycle, being melted and turned into gold and silver bars. These precious metals can also be re-purposed into various electronic devices (cell phones and computers for example) and into beautiful jewelry. There is no degradation in the quality of gold and silver that is recycled and there is no way to examine a piece and determine if it was “freshly mined” or recycled.
When the price of gold started its meteoric rise in 2008, millions of people sold the gold jewelry they had to take advantage of the rise from around $500 an ounce to $1,900 an ounce in under 5 years. Even silver went along for the ride from around $9 an ounce to almost $50 an ounce. This meant there was plenty of gold and silver (platinum too) being sold and melted down. These precious metals found their way back onto the market as bullion and coins for investors, but also into new electronic devices and of course new jewelry.
The same thing happened with diamonds. As more jewelry was sent to the refineries to be melted down, there was a glut of diamonds that came back onto the market. These diamonds were also recycled for industrial purposes! Because they are so durable, diamonds get a second life being used for cutting and grinding.
Diamonds are also often removed from their settings and re-cut or re-set in different pieces of jewelry. Re-cutting a diamond will help get rid of imperfections in the stone or make them more stylish and modern. Giving a stone new life is exciting, because some diamonds were formed billions of years ago, meaning they pre-date many generations of end users.
Recycling these precious metals and gemstones can also help the environment by limiting the damage that the mining causes. The toxic waste created by the mines as well as the destruction of the lands where they are found can have lasting effects.
This Earth Day, going out to buy gold and diamond jewelry may be one of the best things you can do for the planet.
National Earth Day is celebrated each year on April 22. This annual day is held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. The concept of Earth Day was established in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. On March 21, 1970, a sanctioned Proclamation was signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations. On April 22, 1970, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson founded Earth Day. (http://www.earthday.org/earth-day-history-movement)
CELEBRATE
Celebrate National Earth Day by getting engaged in Earth Day activities in your area. Share your Earth Day experiences using #EarthDay on Social Media.
HISTORY
National Earth Day is not considered a National holiday at National Day Calendar. However, we encourage you to learn more about this important day at http://www.earthday.org/earth-day-history-movement. HAPPY EARTH DAY!