Bijoux – Que demander lorsque vous achetez

This article first appeared in the Ecologist sur 24 Avril 2012

Nobody wants to look at jewellery and feel pangs of guilt but there’s no denying that the industry has a poor record when it comes to ethics with everything from blood diamonds to dirty gold and environmental destruction on the charge sheet. What’s more, according to Metalsmiths éthiques, although metal mining only employs 0.9 per cent of the global workforce, it consumes 10 per cent of the world’s energy. ‘Mining is the most environmentally damaging industry in the world, and jewellery is 100 per cent dependent on mined products,’ says Greg Valerio, co-founder of Juste Bijoux action(FJA) and founder of Bijoux CRED. But does that mean you have to give up bijoux entirely? Bien, no. But you do need to know what to look out for.

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Bijoux, according to the Fairtrade Foundation, accounts for around 50 per cent of global demand for gold. But there’s a plus side to its popularity and the yellow metal has become the first jewellery component to get Fairtrade certification. Figures released by the Fairtrade Foundation show that artisan and small-scale (ASM) miners sometimes receive as little as 70 pour cent du prix de l'or convenu au niveau international. En plus de payer des prix équitables aux travailleurs, pour être certifié, les mines doivent réduire au minimum l'utilisation de produits chimiques tels que le mercure et le cyanure pour extraire l'or du minerai. Avec de l'or à faible teneur en produits chimiques, il y a aussi Fairtrade et Fairmined Ecological Gold….

«Pour en savoir plus sur Fair Jewellery Action dans The Ecologist, cliquez ici The Ecologist

 

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