Salvaged Gold & Silver
Recycled Materials
If you were to mine 1 ton of the earths ore, you would get a yield of >30g of gold. If you were to mine 1 ton of electronic waste, you would get a yield of 300g of gold. Lylie’s supports the "mining" of precious metals from discarded technology, as well as dental waste and clients unwanted scrap. E-mining is an eco-friendly alternative to the socially and environmentally destructive process of mining the earth.
In this age of technology, with rapid advances and built-in obsolescence, enormous amounts of electronic waste are produced. A typical mobile holds 0.2g of gold, and, with an average life expectancy of just 22 months, extracting it and refining it results in a lower carbon footprint than primary-mined gold. Furthermore, as gold is a valuable substance worth recycling, it also enables the co-recovery of many other less-valuable metals and ceramics.
Lylie’s products are hallmarked as appropriate, which proves the purity of the metals used.
WHY RECYCLING E-WASTE MATTERS
E-waste is an abbreviation for electronic waste, and it defined as any household or business waste containing circuitry or electrical components. It grows exponentially each year due to the increase in global consumer demands, yet:
Globally, we are in great need of more accessible and sustainable e-waste recycling schemes, but these are expensive, as they have to take place in extremely regulated environments. With a bit of effort, it is possible to dismantle e-waste, and extract its precious metals as well as less valuable metals and ceramics. Once refined, such precious metal resulting in a lower carbon footprint than primary mined metal.
Our salvaged gold is now mainly sourced from our Gold Exchange, as it has ballooned in popularity and we have a surplus of metal being sent in to our recycling initiative. We see that as the greenest source as it can be re-refined in the UK, where needed, but much of it can be immediately recast with meaning the smallest carbon footprint.
Despite our aspirations, Lylie’s is not completely sustainable yet - for example our packaging is not made in the UK and the wrapping paper is not 100% recycled. We also use pre-made jewellery parts that are not 100% salvaged, and we always endeavour to specify this on the product page.
RECYCLE WITH US
We will gladly accept and recycle any gold or silver jewellery, and we will offer a credit towards any Lylie's purchase of equal or greater value based on current metal prices.
Please use our Gold Exchange here.
Lylie's encourages our customers to recycle their own jewellery that they no longer wear.
