Traditional gold mining is not that good for people and the environment. However, mobile phones contain precious metals. They have all the ingredients needed to create beautiful jewelry. Research shows that about 7% of the world’s total gold supply is locked inside electronics. That’s why Closing the Loop launched a new jewelry brand Nowa to highlight the advantages of recycling and the beautiful things that can be created from urban mined gold and silver.
Nowa was founded by two former employees of Closing the Loop. Nowa stands for No Waste. The company creates jewelry by using gold and silver extracted directly from old phones. Phones collected and responsibly recycled by Closing the Loop. Nowa also makes sure that for every piece of jewelry that they sell, CTL is funded to collect, ship, and responsibly recycle five waste phones from Africa. People can contribute to less e-waste with their purchase.
Only three days left on Kickstarter!
Nowa launched a campaign on Kickstarter to get funds for their production and for creating a new circular collection. Especially for the Kickstarter campaign they designed the Eternal Connection collection. ‘Eternal’ because if only people start recycle more, resources like gold and silver could be used for eternity. Connection’ refers to the connection people have with each other and the earth. They have created three unique pieces of jewelry made from recycled mobile phones. A bracelet, a necklace with a small eternal connection design and a necklace with a bigger eternal connection design. All their jewelry is handmade, locally produced, and available in silver, gold plated and 14KT solid gold. If you like, you can have a look here. You have until Thursday, March 14 2019 6:00 PM CET.
Opportunity
According to Joost de Kluijver, founder of Closing the Loop, it is great that Nowa transforms this waste problem into an opportunity for recycling. “It only takes 40 mobile phones for 1 gram of gold. I find it important that people start seeing the value of waste. And besides that, this new concept makes Closing the Loop’s approach more tangible. Gold from African waste is by far the best choice for anyone who buys this precious metal. To speak in terms of social return: the CO2 footprint is very low, it is conflict free and contributes directly to waste reduction. Urban mining is therefore the most sustainable choice. Closing the Loop would like to see this choice made more often. And to achieve that, the potential of African e-waste must become more visible.”
Some e-waste facts
- Electronic waste (e-waste) is growing faster than any other solid waste stream.
- Hundreds of millions of ‘waste phones’ end up in landfills or in illegal hands in Africa and Asia, leading to environmental pollution, loss of valuable raw materials, and to health issues.
- Potential value of raw materials in e-waste in 2016 was estimated at 55 Billion Euros.