Hi,
I am looking for a casting house that uses recycled metals as much
as possible and strives to create a shop environment that is safe for
their employees and the environment.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks-
Susan
Hoover and Strong does contract casting.
They have their Harmony metals program that uses recycled metals.
They have a facility that has been developed to handle the refining
and processing of precious metals in an environmentally friendly
fashion. They have put a lot of time and money and effort to put
this program in place. While there are many folks working on
reducing their environmental footprint Hoover and Strong is
definitely in the front of the pack.
Jim
James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
Susan- Pretty much all of the metal that we work with has been
recycled at one time or another. The Gold that you got from your
refiner may have bits of ancient plundered gold from the incas,
someone’s grandmother’s ring, a few teeth and so on. Gold and silver
are the ultimate recyclable art media.
As for a shop environment…
Any good commercial caster will have in place all of the safety and
environmental features they can. It’s in their best interest to not
get their employees sick or pollute the air. Otherwise law suits pop
up and they cost too much money.
You should visit Techform here sometime. They have the most amazing
air scrubbers and filters, safety rules for googles and mask etc.
Actually if I were twenty years younger, I’d work there. Stuller is
the same. They are always one step ahead.
Have fun, make lots of jewelry and stop worrying so much.
Jo Haemer
www.timothywgreen.com
Hello Susan,
Most of the materials available in the jewelry industry supply chain
comes from recycled materials. Jewelery casting as it is done with
modern equipment is not especially polluting. The health and safety
risks are generally common sense issues. Some shops emphasize their
“green” creds, but I would think the difference between these and the
industry average are slight.
By contrast, what would we consider appalling and unacceptable? I am
sure if you look hard enough you could find someone who does it that
way. But I seriously doubt that there are widespread safety or
environmental abuses in modern casting shops. But I would expect
that the manufacture of our packaging materials and transportation
cause more pollution and greater risk than casting.
Stephen Walker
I agree to what has been said about production procedures. At that
level, there probably is no “greener than the other”.
On a mining level, however, be it metal or stones, differences can
readily be found, and organisations like Fair Jewelry
( http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/hf ) or Ethical Metalsmith
( Ethical Metalsmiths ) give plenty of to
the interested.