Jewellery is worn by millions of people. Mining for gold and silver obviously has impacts on the environment and wildlife (whether ‘ethical’ or not) and although blood diamonds (profits funding civil war) are not common these days, there is enough already-mined gold and silver on earth to last for eternity. Go for vegan-friendly jewellery (free from bone, shell, feathers, pearls, leather).
Donate broken necklaces or odd earrings to Recycling for Good Causes (list your local animal shelter: they sell the metal and pass on funds).
atypicalthing creates nice jewellery in Birmingham from recycled silver. A trained silversmith, the founder handcrafts all pieces and also uses recycled gold. This recycled promise ring is from a trained silversmith who handcrafts all pieces and also uses recycled gold. Adorned with 5 delicate sparkling CZ stones (zirconium dioxide are ‘manmade diamonds’ to avoid mining), it’s finished with a textured organic finish on the front, and smooth refined finish on the back for comfort. Makes a lovely affordable wedding ring.
recycled tin jewellery from Yorkshire
Hammered in Yarkshire offers fun colourful jewellery, restored from old rare vintage tins! Like wearing a piece of history, this is made in someone’s spare room! Some tins are modern, but most are vintage.
jewellery (from recycled coffee pods)
Coffee Pod Creations makes jewellery out of old coffee pods, to save them going to landfill. These aluminium pods make stylish unique items, made in small batches to support the indie community. Disposable coffee pods exist in their millions (bin compostable versions, as caffeine can harm creatures in compost bins).
jewellery (from recycled fishing waste)
Blue Juice Studio makes stunning jewellery, made from discarded fishing nets that otherwise harm marine wildlife in the oceans. Ghost fishing waste is one of the most damaging aspects of ocean litter today, so this is a great way to use it up (rather than clothing, which just deposits more plastic back in washing machines).
This recycled sterling silver seaglass ring features a base of recycled silver, along with a unique piece of pretty green or blue seaglass in the centre. Seaglass is ‘naturally made’ on the coasts, by the sea waves washing away and smoothing broken bottles. So your piece of seaglass (in this case collected from southwest beaches by the jeweller’s mum!) could be anything from a broken bottle tossed in the sea a few years ago to a pirate’s bottle thrown overboard from hundreds of years back. Shiver me timbers!
