Twelve Things Jewelry Companies Can Do To Be More Green
Some of these ideas are obvious and you are probably already doing them. However, there are a few things here that are will make you think and at the end of the article, I ask for your help to give me ideas. We manufacture and sell retail, so I have included ideas that apply to the office and to the shop.
If we all make small improvements in our business, it will make a huge difference.
1.) Brainstorm with your employees. – Have a meeting and ask everyone what might be done to have less of an environmental impact. You might get some unexpected ideas you never thought of.
2.) Switch to compact fluorescent bulbs. – These bulbs use about one third the electricity of regular halogen bulbs, last longer, and save money. At first I was concerned that they would not be adequate in our buffing room and over our bench workers, but they work just fine.
However, we do not use them in our showroom because they do not show the jewelry well.
3.) Use warm citric acid for pickling. – Citric acid is harmless to the environment. It takes a little bit to get used to it, but once you get used to it, it works fine. Also, you will not be breathing the fumes from the other acids.
4.) Dehydrate your fluids. – We are big fan of dehydrating all our fluids. Excess water in the polishing room, pickling fluids, water from washing the floors all gets dried. It contains much of the chemicals from buffing compounds and metals. You benefit from reclaiming the metal which can be refined.
This set up may seem very simple and it may not work in certain parts of the country. Eventually, however, all water that is let in the open air and covered does dry out. Until recently, we simply had the buckets outside without the roof. Being in Santa Fe, they eventually dried, but not quick enough. It took us years to think of building this simple clear roof over them
5.) Purchase recycled gold. – This is easy to do. We work with Hoover and Strong and they have a very competitive program. They’re a great company to work with.
(Plus, they send things in a nice box)
6.) Investigate alternative soaps and chemicals in the manufacturing process that do less harm. – Rio Grande is an excellent resource for brainstorming on manufacturing alternatives.
7.) Use Non-cadmium solders. – Even though we have an excellent ventilation system, we made the choice to not work with cadmium and keep the heavy metals out of the environment. This is good for your own health as well. Once you get used to it, the non-cadmium solders are just as good to work with. These solders vary from source to source, so you can try different ones to see which you like. We get ours from Santa Fe Jeweler’s supply.
8.) Ride your bike to work. – Not possible for many of us, but Helen Chantler, our lead designer, does ride her bike to work about six months a year. Other people who work for us walk and even skate board to work.
9.) Recycle Junk Mail and Boxes. – Our city does not do pick up from businesses, so I take it home. We also shred our junk mail to make packing material and we pick up other shredded documents from others who do not need it. An attorney usually has lots of shredded paper. We save a lot of money by reusing boxes and shredding paper. Note our set up: the shredder goes right into a bin where we collect paper for shipping.
At first, we had some concern because we imagined that customers might not like to receive jewelry in a used box, so we had a stamp made that says in green ink: “All Shipping Products Are Recycled.” We also re-use boxes whenever possible. Sometimes we collect boxes from other companies. We always use FEDEX boxes multiple times.
10.) Recycle and buy recycled products. – Have a bin for basic recyclables easily available. We make it easy for all our employees to recycle cans, cardboard and aluminum by putting a bin in our kitchen area.
We also purchase post consumer paper. For years, we could only find 30% post consumer paper from Office Depot, but we just found paper at Staples which is made with over 90% post consumer waste. It is nearly as white (90 vs 92) as regular non-recycled paper.
11.) Buy Green Electricity. – This isn’t offered everywhere. But New Mexico’s Public Service Company does allow companies to pay a little more for electricity from green sources.
(PNM’s Wind Energy Center, southeast of Albuquerque and near Fort Sumner.)
12.) Offset your Carbon. – Work with organizations that will do activities which will offset the carbon that you generate at your work place. You can do this through a number of ways, from tree planting to purchasing offsets. Be sure to investigate the companies that you work with, as there has been some discussion over the authenticity of these offsets within certain organizations. See the next blog for how to conduct offsets.
These are just a few ideas that we came up with. If you are a store or manufacturer and have other things that you can think of, please blog them for me and our readers.
