Pandora shifts to recycled silver and gold
By using recycled instead of newly mined silver and gold, Pandora avoids 58,000 tons CO2 every year.
Pandora, the world’s largest jewellery brand, today announced it has changed its precious metals supply and is now sourcing only recycled silver and gold for all its jewellery.
The shift avoids significant greenhouse gas emissions, as mining requires more energy and resources than recycling. The carbon footprint of recycled silver is one-third compared to mined silver, while the recycling of gold emits less than 1% of the carbon emissions from mining new gold. By sourcing recycled metals, Pandora avoids around 58,000 tons CO2 per year. This is similar to the annual electricity use of 11,000 homes or driving 6,000 cars around the world.
“Precious metals can be recycled forever without any loss of quality. Silver originally mined centuries ago is just as good as new, and improved recycling can significantly reduce the climate footprint of the jewellery industry,” said CEO Alexander Lacik.
Silver and gold are the most used precious metals in Pandora jewellery. In 2020, Pandora set a target to source 100% recycled silver and gold by 2025, and now the company has reached this milestone earlier than expected – by the end of 2023 – thanks to strong commitment from its suppliers.
All suppliers have had to switch their operations to only source materials that are certified recycled according to the Responsible Jewellery Council Chain of Custody, one of the strictest standards in the industry. For many, this has introduced new processes and equipment to ensure complete segregation of mined and recycled metals across the entire supply chain including sorting, melting, and manufacturing. More than 100 Pandora employees have been involved in the transition work.
Allowing time for the depletion of existing inventory of metals, Pandora expects that it will craft all new jewellery with 100% recycled silver and gold from the second half of 2024. In 2023, 97% of the silver and gold sourced for Pandora's jewellery was recycled.
Today, less than 20% of the world’s silver supply comes from recycled sources, typically from discarded electronics, old jewellery,silverware, manufacturing scrap and other waste from industry. Once collected, recycled silver undergoes a refining process where impurities are removed, and the metal is recast to be used again.
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About Pandora
Pandora is the world’s largest jewellery brand. The company designs, manufactures and markets hand-finished jewellery made from high-quality materials at affordable prices. Pandora jewellery is sold in more than 100 countries through more than 6,500 points of sale, including more than 2,500 concept stores.
Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, Pandora employs 32,000 people worldwide and crafts its jewellery at two LEED-certified facilities in Thailand. Pandora is committed to leadership in sustainability and will purchase only recycled silver and gold for crafting its jewellery by 2025 and halve greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 2030. Pandora is listed on the Nasdaq Copenhagen stock exchange and generated sales of DKK 26.5 billion (EUR 3.6 billion) in 2022.
For more information, please contact:
Johan Melchior
VP, Media Relations & Public Affairs
+45 4060 1415
jome@pandora.net
Lejla Charif
Manager, Media Relations & Public Affairs
+45 3165 6403
lecha@pandora.net