How to Improve the Environmental Impact of Refining Metal for Jewelry

If you’re like many metal refiners, the issue of environmental impact has crossed your mind. This is especially true if the state in which you’re based has strict regulations that target your business for excessive copper, silver, and other non-precious metals that qualify as restricted. Improve your business’s impact on the environment and reduce precious metal waste by adjusting how you operate.

Hire Professionals

If you craft jewelry, you don’t always have the time to devote to refining metal. The best precious metal refiners take on clients and offer to do the refining for them from jewelry craft excess and other materials clients gather. They also sell their own refined metal so you don’t have to worry about collecting materials. Focus on what matters to you — the jewelry design and manufacture — and stop worrying about environmental impacts by leaving the refining to the experts.

Don’t Mix Ultrasonic Solutions With Waste Water

The waste water you use to collect the small amount of precious metal that comes off during your refining process or even when polishers wash their hands won’t collect all of your metal. If you consistently mix ultrasonic solutions into your settling tanks with the waste water, you’ll lose even more of the metals back along with the waste, which means your excess metals make their way back to the natural water source in your area.

Use Flocculant

Even if you keep your ultrasonic solutions separate from your waste water, you’ll still have some metal that escapes with the water. Filters won’t help. Treat the water with flocculant before it leaves the building and the metal particles will collect as a sludge that’s easier to extract.

Caring about your business’ impact on the environment not only keeps your business free of regulation infractions, but it also ensures you get the most metal out of your refining process. If you don’t want to worry about it, do the most efficient and easy thing: hire an expert to do it or buy from the expert directly.

3 Ways to Save Money When Starting a Jewelry Design Business

Jewelry design is more than just a hobby for many jewelry enthusiasts, it’s a lifelong dream. Whether you’ve taken years of classes to earn your license as a master craftsperson or you’re about to start selling your own homemade designs online, starting your jewelry business will require an investment. However, there are ways where you can trim costs.

1. Hire a Refining Group

The best precious metal refiners have extended access to materials that they can then turn around and sell at a much more affordable rate than most suppliers. They gather the metal you need from shavings and used parts of things that seem to have nothing to do with jewelry making, such as aircraft. They then refine them into workable metal for jewelry makers. It’s much cheaper to get your supplies from them.

2. Gather Materials to Refine

Refiners also allow professionals to give them material from which they can refine metal. Save even more money when you provide the metal shavings or parts instead of relying on the supply they already have in stock. Talk to the experts about the best sources to find these parts and see if there are any junk yards or used parts places in your area.

3. Take Charge of Advertising Yourself

If you have the money, a good advertising firm can make a big difference to the launch of your business. However, if you’re operating on a limited budget, it makes sense to take charge of your own marketing. Create social media profiles for your business and engage the jewelry lovers online through relevant posts about the industry. 

Don’t be afraid to talk to other professionals in the jewelry business about how they saved money when starting their own lines. Input from your colleagues is especially crucial when you’re crafting on your own. So sign up for trade shows, conventions, and local artist fairs to start getting your name out there.