Numbers on recycled diamonds and gold, including some from Apple

Given that it’s Earth Day, here are some interesting stats to chew on regarding the environment and the jewelry business:

– According to a September 2014 McKinsey report, recycled diamonds will represent about one-third of supply by 2025. (No wonder De Beers is going into that business.)

In a recent article, veteran analyst Chaim Even-Zohar says that while that number may seem high—it is nowhere near that now—he believes it may happen, due to the attitudes of the millennial generation, “which simply may not value diamond ownership the way their parents did.”

– That number would make diamond recycling roughly equal with current levels in the gold market, where recycled gold accounted for about one-third of supply from 1995 to 2014, according to a report from the World Gold Council.

– Of course, jewelry companies aren’t the only one ones who recycled the metal. Here is a staggering tidbit from Apple’s sustainability report, relayed by the Huffington Post:

The tech company says it recovered more than a ton of gold from recycled devices last year — 2,204 pounds, according to Apple’s environmental responsibility report. 

It came from Apple products that were either dropped off at stores or mailed in by consumers. Each iPhone, for instance, contains approximately 25 milligrams of gold worth about $1, according to a Forbes report.

Apple’s report also said that it recycled more than three times that—6,612 pounds, or about three tons—of silver in the same year.  

Rob Bates

JCK News Director