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Bracelets especially gold bracelets and gemstones jewelry bracelets are a summer essential. They often make your summer clothes pop and help you stand out and glimmer in the sun. But have you heard of sustainable bracelets?
Before you shop for your next set of summer-style jewelry, maybe you’ll want to try some sustainable bracelets instead. And if you’re wondering if sustainable bracelets are worth it then you’ve found the best article to tell you all about
But first as always a little disclaimer.
Affiliation Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. So, I may earn a commission if you decide to buy something from these links at NO EXTRA COST. This helps my business and blog grow. However, please feel free not to use them if it makes you uncomfortable. I hope you find this article helpful; thank you for stopping by!
What are sustainable bracelets?
Simply put, sustainable bracelets are bracelets that are made in a transparent and responsible manner by jewelry makers. These bracelets go through a manufacturing chain that uses sustainable materials that are ethically sourced.
For example, bracelets made from ocean plastics are bracelets that have beads and other materials are made from plastic that has polluted the ocean. This plastic is first collected then melted down and made into bracelet beads that are then strung together to make sustainable ocean bracelets.
Sustainable bracelets have little to no impact on the environment and are responsible for each and every manner of their production.
What this basically means is that from start to finish, the jewelry makers use eco-friendly jewelry materials, only use ethically sourced fine materials and pay their workers fair wages, and provide them with a safe working environment.
So now that we’ve got that out of the way, you may be wondering how sustainable bracelets even help the environment?
Well first let’s talk about some aspects of the jewelry industry that aren’t great for the environment.
How is the jewelry industry affecting the environment?
Just like many other industries in the world, the fashion industry if left unchecked can negatively affect the environment and even violate the rights of those who work to create your favorite pieces.
Some examples of this would be:
Overproduction
What overproduction essentially means is that because jewelry industries are often creating tonnes of products to meet the demands of their customers, they tend to overproduce more than what people can consume.
For example to keep up with trends a jewelry company may constantly have to produce new items, however, because trends are a fleeting moment in fashion, quite quickly some of these products become unwanted by consumers leading the company to have to throw them out.
These items that are thrown are not only a huge waste that clogs up landfills, but they’re also a waste of materials that were often unethically sourced in the first place.
This cycle of overproduction and underconsumption only leads to more waste and ineffective and environmentally negative use of materials.
What’s more, since most jewelry is created from plastics in one way or another, the products made may not even be biodegradable which leaves them clogging up landfills for a long LONG time.
Air Pollution
If you didn’t know, the process of making jewelry is a lot more complex than it seems. It’s not just about stringing up a few beads, there’s some heavy machinery involved when creating charms beads and more!
These heavy machines often create toxic smogs that pollute the air and affect the air quality for all.
This is because a tonne of coal and fossil fuels are being used to create electricity to process these materials.
Mining
Do you know that shiny gemstone jewelry that’s the perfect addition to your summer outfits? The gold and silver pieces that glimmer in the sun? These gold bracelets are often the perfect addition to any and all of your cute casual outfits.
Bracelets such as these – don’t worry these ones, in particular, are ethically made – are gorgeous and loved by all!
But many companies don’t ethically make them which results in beautiful pieces of jewelry that may have an ugly story that might make you think twice about wearing them again.
The air pollution it creates to process mined materials
As mentioned earlier, a lot of the production of jewelry involves heavy machinery that requires fossil fuels and other such fuels to be burnt to create the electricity to run them.
For diamond and gold mines, in particular, these machines are a necessary part of the process of prepping mined ores to be made into jewelry.
In fact, it is said that mining one carat of natural diamonds produces a whopping 65lg of CO2 on average which is a lot higher than lab-grown diamonds.
And that’s not all! Equipment to dig up these materials and the trucks used to transport them often emit large amounts of thick fumes and allow for dangerous airborne particles to enter the air. Making it an unsafe environment for anyone who’s exposed to them.
Overmining
Much like overproduction, it seems that there has been a mass mining of natural resources, especially gold over recent years. This mass mined gold is often left underutilized and wasted.
This is especially concerning because gold is one of the many natural resources that can actually be recycled which means that there isn’t actually a need to over-mine them.
Especially because summer-style gold jewelry is often the biggest trend of the year, many preemptively mine and it’s often left wasted.
If more companies were to invest in the recycling of gold, these natural resources could be protected and well-utilized instead of wasted.
Now, this doesn’t happen with eco-friendly engagement rings or sustainable gold hoop earrings because their materials are consciously sourced with the environment in mind.
Contamination of water due to mining
Gold mining often leads to a problem known as acid mine drainage. This happens as a result of the underground rock – that has been disturbed by mining – being newly exposed to air and water.
The rock can react with oxygen to create a form of sulfuric acid which when mixed with the water, can cause acidic water that’s even more concentrated than acid. This acid water is incredibly acidic and toxic to living beings.
Once acid mine drainage starts, it’s almost impossible to stop. Acidic waters flowing from abandoned mines can destroy aquatic life and affect other living beings for generations.
The ill-treatment of mining worker
Unfortunately, other than the mining industry being cruel to the environment with its unethical practices, it’s also cruel to the workers who work within them.
Miners are often put into poorly sanitized environments, have limited to no workers’ rights, and are paid very little.
Some miners who reside in under-developed countries especially are often violently mistreated and abused in the mines they work at.
Psst, here is a list of great gold and silver bracelets that won’t make you feel guilty for sporting them:
How would sustainable bracelets help?
So now that you know how unfortunately cruel some aspects of the jewelry industry can be, you may be wondering how “So Karmen how would sustainable bracelets help?”.
Bracelets made from recycled materials
Firstly, there are some companies out there that are currently investing in creating bracelets out of recycled materials. These bracelets not only reuse and repurpose the materials that clog up landfills, but they often have programs that also make it easy to re-recycle these materials once again.
One such brand that’s making bracelets from recycled materials is 4ocean. 4ocean’s beaded bracelets made from ocean plastic are one of the most iconic bracelets they’ve ever made. These bracelets are made from plastic that they’ve collected whilst cleaning up the pollution in the ocean.
Their ocean bracelets also help their cause of pulling out trash from the ocean. Their 4ocean shark bracelet in particular says that when you purchase this bracelet from 4ocean, you’ll invest in pulling one-pound rivers, and coastlines while raising awareness about these misunderstood aquatic animals.
Bracelets made from eco-friendly jewelry materials
One of the best features of sustainable materials is that they’re often ethically mined. This means sustainable gemstones jewelry includes gemstones that are cleanly sourced and where there should be a little negative impact on the environment and the workers it was mined from.
These gemstones are ethically sourced gemstones wholesale items that have a transparent and environmentally conscious manufacturing process. Eliminating the issues caused by environmentally negative mining processes.
So if you want bracelets that do more harm than good, these are definitely the few I recommend.
Bracelets like these ones here are made from eco-friendly materials and ethically manufactured!
What else could you do?
Other than investing in sustainable bracelets and jewelry, what else could you do to minimize your carbon footprint this summer?
Well, one of my favorite ways to be more environmentally conscious with my fashion is by investing in capsule wardrobes!
Capsule wardrobes are the process of owning pieces of clothing that can be worn and refreshed in more ways than one. This means you’re buying fewer clothes for different occasions and that you’re using each and every piece of clothing in your closet without any going to waste.
For example, these bracelets here are simple and elegant. They’re perfect for any outfit because of their simple design and sophisticated gold finish.
Of course, this may be a little easier said than done, which is why I’ve got some other great articles on how to create your own personal capsule wardrobe.
Here’s a list of some of the best articles on capsule wardrobes to get you started:
- Affordable Men Capsule Wardrobe
- Capsule Wardrobe For Petites
- Mom Capsule Wardrobe At An Affordable Price
- Capsule Wardrobe Planning Ideas To Save Money
- Capsule Summer Wardrobe Outfits
Conclusion
So before you shop for bracelets on top of your summer clothes and add some glitz to your summer wardrobes you may want to look into sustainable bracelets. Making sure the jewelry I wear is a big passion of mine and although it’s not always the easiest thing to do, I guarantee it’s the right thing to do.
Often the best thing is never the easy thing that must be done.
As always if you enjoy this article do let me know in the comments and send this article to a friend who absolutely loves their summer jewelry.
I hope this article has at least inspired some of you to look into sustainable fashion and sustainable bracelets.