Pandora Starts Shift to Recycled Metals

Copenhagen, Denmark—Pandora will phase out its use of mined silver and gold by 2025, the company announced Tuesday, opting to buy from recycled sources in an effort to create more sustainable jewelry.

Currently, 71 percent of the jeweler’s silver and gold come from recycled sources.

The company said the shift would cut down on carbon emissions, water usage, and other environmental impacts and contribute to making its jewelry more sustainable.

“The need for sustainable business practices is only becoming more important, and companies must do their part in response to the climate crisis and the depletion of natural resources,” said CEO Alexander Lacik in a press release.

Carbon emissions from recycled silver are one-third of what they would be from mined silver, said Pandora, calculations it made using the GaBi 2019 database.

Recycled gold emits 600 times less carbon than mining new gold, according to data from the World Gold Council and C. Hafner, a company specializing in precious metal technology.

Lacik said silver and gold can be recycled without losing their quality, noting that “metals mined centuries ago are just as good as new.”

Pandora’s jewelry is most often crafted using silver, which accounts for half of all the company’s purchased product materials measured by weight.

The jeweler also uses gold, palladium, copper, and man-made stones, like nano-crystals and cubic zirconia.

The decision to use recycled silver and gold extends to all uses of these metals, said Pandora, including grains and semi-finished items like chains, and other parts from suppliers.

The company said it will work with suppliers to ensure it has a sufficient supply of responsibly sourced recycled silver that is certified in line with supply chain initiative standards, such as those set by the Responsible Jewellery Council.

Pandora also said it will reach out to stakeholders in the supply chain to look for opportunities to increase the availability of recycled silver and improve production standards.

In a recent report on retail trends post-COVID-19, Bain & Co. noted the call for eco-friendly and sustainable products will only grow stronger following the pandemic.

Brands will want to be mindful of consumer concerns when thinking about end-to-end product life cycle, supply chain management, and how to dispose of unsold stock, said Bain.

The decision to use recycled silver and gold follows Pandora’s announcement in January that it plans to be carbon neutral by 2025, joining the Science Based Targets initiative, a group of corporations collaborating to address climate change.

Pandora