What Is Ethical Jewelry?

A growing number of jewelers are trying to take up more ethical practices. This includes making sure that their jewelry is sourced from the right places and that it causes as little damage to the environment as possible. Below are a few examples of how jewelry companies are becoming more ethical and why you should consider this when purchasing jewelry.

Fairmined

Fairmined is an initiative set up to ensure that precious metals like gold and silver come from ethical sources. Gold and silver that receives Fairmined certification must pass traceability tests. It must come from mines that fairly pay their workers, promote well-being and do not hire child labor. When buying jewelry made of precious metals, it is always worth looking into Fairmined certification so that you can be certain the metals used were ethically mined.

Conflict-free

Many of us have heard the term ‘blood diamond’. These are diamonds that are mined in warzones and sold to help fund war efforts. When buying diamond jewelry, it is worth looking for jewelry that uses ‘conflict-free’ diamonds. Ethical companies like Brilliant Earth ensure that all diamond jewelry sold is conflict-free. You can then rest assured that your ring or necklace is not helping to buy weapons or fund a military invasion.

Lab-grown

Lab-grown diamonds are diamonds that have not been mined but instead formed in a laboratory. When you buy a lab-grown diamond, you can be certain that it did not come from a mine with poor working conditions or a country looking to fund a war. Lab-grown diamonds are also more eco-friendly – mining diamonds typically involves using dynamite and diesel to blast these stones out of the earth, while lab-grown diamonds are often forged using renewable energy resulting in minimal environmental damage. All in all, it can be worth looking into these diamonds if you want a guilt-free purchase.

Recycled

When it comes to jewelry made from precious metals, you can reduce the demand on mining metal by opting for jewelry made from recycled gold and silver. Such jewelry is a lot more environmentally friendly and can be just as high quality – there will usually be information provided by the jeweler to tell you that an item is made from recycled metals. On top of buying jewelry made from reforged metal, it’s also possible to simply buy jewelry second-hand. Used jewelry is very eco-friendly because it doesn’t involve producing emissions to manufacture new jewelry. You can find jewelers that specialize in used jewelry online.

Charitable

Charitable jewelers are companies that donate some of their profits to charitable causes. Many charitable jewelry companies donate to causes related to ethical mining such as helping communities near mines to build schools, homes, and clean water systems. Others invest in environmental causes as a way of reducing their own carbon footprint, which may include planting trees or helping with recycling schemes. If you like the idea of giving back when purchasing jewelry, consider looking for jewelers that donate to charitable causes.