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Are you concerned with e-waste?

Dell and actress Nikki Reed design gold jewellery from e-waste.

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Dell and Nikki Reed – Gold Jewellery made from Electronic Waste

Every year, over 50 million tons of Electronic Waste is created

According to statistics, only 12.5% of electronics are responsibly recycled globally. The rest of 87.5% is recycled in a standard fashion, by burning, which can have serious consequences such as: air, water and soil pollution.

$60 million-worth of Gold/Silver in Electronic Waste

Statistics have found that Americans are throwing away $60 million in gold and silver that come from un-recycled smartphones.

The E-Cycling Leadership Initiative

Together with Apple, HP, LG, Panasonic and other major electronics suppliers, Dell joined the E-Cycling Leadership Initiative.

The E-Cycling Leadership Initiative is committed to “the reusing, or the distribution for reuse of pieces of electronic equipment and their components at the end of their life cycle” .

In January 2018, Dell was the first electronics manufacturer to use recycled gold from e-waste in its products. Dell’s process for extracting gold from old computer motherboards is 99% more environmentally friendly than extracting gold from the earth.

There is 800x more gold in a tone of computer motherboards than in a tone of ore in the earth.

Dell.com

Pollution in the Fashion Industry

Another industry that is responsible for a lot of waste is fashion.

Just three years ago, in 2015, fashion was the second most polluting industry in the world, next to oil. The fashion industry had a serious impact on our society and the planet: sweatshops in third-world countries, increased levels of pollution, high carbon footprint, use of great amount of natural resources, toxic dyes waste etc.

In 2011, Greenpeace launched its Detox My Fashion campaign which asks the textile and fashion industry to urgently take responsibility for their contribution to toxic pollution.

Ethical and Sustainable Fashion

In the last years, fashion has become waste-conscious and recycling-focused.

Ethical and sustainable fashion brands do right by their society, environment, employees and customers. According to The Ethical Fashion Forum, fashion sustainability means “maximizing benefits, while minimizing negative impact”. It’s a win-win situation.

As focus shifts to a circular economy, sustainability will evolve from being a menu of fragmented initiatives to being an integral and defining part of the entire fashion value chain.

Businessoffashion.com

BoF and McKinsey & Company conducted a research on sustainability in fashion – The State of Fashion 2018 which was published in January 2018.

Here are the main findings of this report:

• Sustainability is moving to the core of the fashion industry;
• Sustainability is driving innovation “to unlock technical innovations, efficiencies, and mission orientation”;
• 42 out of 100 fashion brands have embraced sustainability in 2017;
• Fashion brands are becoming aware that moving towards a business model that is sustainable and ethical is a powerful differentiator;
• Sustainable and ethical fashion brands attract a new category of customers: the Millennials;
• 66% of global Millennials are willing to spend more on brands that are sustainable.

We all should be thinking “circular” in our approach to design. One industry’s “trash” can be another’s treasure

bayouwithlove.com

Actress Nikki Reed (who starred in the Twilight series) started BaYou with Love when she couldn’t find products in the fashion industry that were ethically made, sustainable, chemical-free.

Inspired by the beauty that surrounds us and motivated by the lack of sustainable and natural options, BaYou With Love was born. It’s the way it makes you feel to merge thoughtful consumerism with effortlessly chic style. Sustainable fashion isn’t the future, it’s the present. Wearing BaYou is wearing love.

Dell approached Nikki Reed with the idea to design beautiful products from e-waste. Nikki accepted the challenge with enthusiasm and created two 14-18 karat gold jewellery collections: The Circular Collection and The One Earth Collection. The jewellery is made from upcycled gold from technology and conflict-free gemstones.

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sources:

www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/top-industry-trends-2018-8-sustainability-credibility

www.greenpeace.org/archive-international/en/campaigns/detox/fashion/detox-catwalk/

www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/corp-comm/recycled-gold?c=us&l=en&s=corp

www.rubiconglobal.com/blog-electronic-waste-problem/