Recycled or ‘guilt-free’ gold may be the latest craze to hit western jewellery markets but Indians have been doing just that for generations, when ecological consciousness was not even a glint in an activist’s eye. Indeed, reports that style icons such as Meghan Markle prefer jewellery made from recycled gold would not evoke any admiring sounds in India.
After all, it was routine for families to trade in old jewellery for newer designs back in the day when jewellery was not branded. But now that gold jewellery faces a threat from platinum, making ‘ethically mined’ or recycled gold a “thing” is a brilliant comeback. ‘Artisanal’, ‘responsible’, ‘ethical’ and other words which have stood wine, cheese, coffee, cotton and other products in good stead can do much to burnish gold’s image, too.
Besides refining 275 tonnes of new gold, India also produced 87 tonnes of recycled gold and 8.6 tonnes more were extracted from ores of other metals, according to World Gold Council 2018 data. It must be remembered that these subtle distinctions are important for the cognoscenti. ‘Fairtrade gold’— meaning it has been extracted from ecologically safe mines by happy miners — has a trendy ring to it and using ‘recycled gold’ extracted from computer components and other industrial detritus has a positively angelic aura.
Courtesy: Economic Times, Representational Image
