小編曾在"什麼！這才是真相！純銀與電鍍合金的飾品大戰"一文中有談到身為台灣品牌的一員─mittag jewelry，我們非常關心環保議題，就是因為深深地熱愛著這片土地與在此土地上每日勤奮工作的人們；而且，在文章裡也曾提倡別追求「快時尚」的流行飾品因為會衍生許多您不知道的生態破壞；但是，還有更多您可能沒想過卻必須知道的事實。因此，讓小編透過這篇文章向您細說，並介紹mittag jewelry如何看待這些問題的。

 

 

從mittag jewelry的品牌初心到產品包裝的執著

 

小編剛到mittag有些小地方不習慣，例如個人位置旁邊不能放小垃圾桶，後來才了解創辦人的用心良苦，如此除了可以維持環境衛生，還會讓人到茶水間丟垃圾時自然而然的做起垃圾分類。也才知道在mittag jewelry的創立初期，大家討論如何讓這個品牌除了提供獨特性的產品以外，還能為這片土地做些甚麼呢？在這個台灣縮影的品牌公司裡，員工來自四面八方、各行各業，每個人都有著他們各自的專業技術與不同的認知與習慣。但是，卻在一連串的內部討論與磨合之後，我們意識到我們有一個共同點，就是對「綠色永續環保議題」的執著，而且早已深入每個人的生活細節裡，如隨身攜帶環保餐具、自備購物袋減少使用塑袋、自發性地做垃圾分類...等。因此，「帶頭做環保」就這樣順理成章地成了mittag jewelry重要的品牌意識了。

 

當mittag jewelry思考如何將環保愛地球的意念展現在包裝上時，我們從一個致力於木製商品並值得我們驕傲的台灣品牌「木育森林 Wooderful Life」裡得知，多使用木製品(砍伐並使用固碳效果差的成熟木)可以間接地促進森林種植(種植可增加儲碳量並排放更多的氧氣的新生樹苗)，可有效減緩地球的溫室效應。所以當我們使用木製品，都是在為減少溫室氣體做一份貢獻，並非我們一般認知使用木製品就是殘害森林的老舊觀念。因此，在我們尋遍許多商家之後，mittag jewelry的木製珠寶盒終於在彰化尋得合適的商家並以手工製作。而且，為求徹底符合環保，珠寶盒表面僅以天然木臘油塗覆，並無使用任何化學噴漆加工，呈現它自然的木質質感。另外，在mittag jewelry商品中使用在手環的真皮皮套包裝，是採用植鞣的牛皮革。而植鞣是最早的鞣制方法，是在植物裡抽取丹寧酸等等的成分製作成鞣劑來鞣製皮革。所以，植鞣製成的皮革不但不含重金屬等有害環境的化學物質以外，還可以直接與肌膚接觸，而且也可以保留皮革天然的紋路與光澤，這就是mittag jewelry在包裝材料上的堅持，並努力與品牌意識相符。

 

 

再談敬而遠之的電鍍工藝和mittag jewelry的因應之道

 

雖然在"什麼！這才是真相！純銀與電鍍合金的飾品大戰"文章中，小編曾提及電鍍的汙染是造成土地無法彌補的傷害元凶之一，但因為這篇文章引起許多顧客的迴響與關注，因此，小編趁這個機會再詳述一些您必須知道的事實，並再次提醒您在購買飾品前能夠多加考慮。

正確來說，電鍍工藝不僅僅是用於飾品而已，應該是說所有的金屬五金工業都有可能使用這項技術，所以它在政府的產業分類中是屬於「電鍍與金屬表面處理產業」，而汙染源並不是完成電鍍的產品本身，而是在電鍍過程中所產生的廢水。由於汙染的廢水中所含的重金屬離子是帶正電，若它沒有經過處理就經由排水設施進入河川農田，而土壤是帶負電的，所以若一但與土壤結合，這些超過背景值的金屬離子就會牢牢吸附在土壤表面上，並且不會被微生物分解而遺留萬年，並長期影響著這個土地上人們的健康與在此被耕作的農作物、畜牧與生態環境。

由於台灣在1950年代的「經濟起飛」時期，因為製造業的發展讓台灣能夠享有「亞洲四小龍」的美名，但孰不知在此時代的政府卻未建立任何的法規來規範業者。在1982年的桃園第一起「鎘米事件」開始，經過專家後續的擴大檢測後，其農地汙染的地區又擴大到台中、雲林、彰化等地，汙染面積達到533公頃。而深究其汙染區域與工商登記資料的比對中發現，是與「電鍍與金屬表面處理產業」群聚汙染有所關連。

資料來源：上下游記者孔德廉 反電鍍戰爭開打

資料來源：公共電視有話好說節目 彰化電鍍廠偷排廢水！劇毒氰化物污染農田！

資料來源：上下游新聞集記者孔德廉 田死不能復生

 

 

mittag jewelry的未來與永續珠寶的國際思維

 

對於歐美日等國近年來熱門的飾品議題—「永續珠寶」，雖然在台灣的飾品界裡，這議題才剛剛起步而已！但是mittag jewelry已經率先參與其中，並於2018年12月1日參加座談！不但於2020年5月成功通過國際公平貿易貴金屬認證單位「Fairmined」的審查，將公平貿易貴金屬引進台灣並提供給消費者選擇，成為台灣唯一使用公平貿易貴金屬的珠寶品牌，更於2021年3月採用更先進、更環保的「全環保剝金術」所製成的「有機金(Organic Gold)、有機銀(Organic Silver)」，同時提供消費者無論想選擇來自礦產或回收的貴金屬，皆來自於關心永續環境的良善立意而來的。值得一提的，這個先進的「全環保剝金術」是一項獨步全球的新技術，而且是發明於一間台灣公司—「優勝奈米(UWin Nanotech)」！該技術還在2018年的「台灣國際循環經濟展」中，受到總統蔡英文的高度讚賞。mittag jewelry不斷的往前邁進，其最重要的目的就是想與您一同為這片我們所愛的土地繼續努力；台灣的環境因為過去的破壞需要很長時間來修補，但是它的未來卻可以因您我的加入以及持續關注與努力，而能夠留下一個美麗的環境讓我們能可以世代永續生活！

 

 

 

 

 

A Taiwanese brand talking about environmental awareness

by mittag jewelry

 

We once in the article "What! The truth is…! The battle between silver and electroplated alloy jewelry" talked about being a member of the Taiwanese brands - mittag jewelry, we concerned a lot about environmental issues, because we deeply love this land with the people who live on this land; and, in the article also advocates the pursuit of "fast fashion" alloy jewelry will generate a lot of ecological damage; but there are more you may not have thought about yet you must be know. Therefore, let us explain through this article and introduce how mittag jewelry takes these issues.

 

 

From mittag jewelry brand's initial heart to the persistence of product packaging

 

I have some tiny accustomed issues when entered mittag jewelry being an employee. For example, we are not allowed to put a personal trash can in our partition. Later, I learned the founder's intentions, apart from maintaining environmental sanitation, it would also naturally leads people to do the garbage sorting in the tea room. Then I realized that in the early days of the establishment of mittag jewelry, the discussion of how to manage this brand besides providing unique products, what else can it do for this land? In this Taiwanese miniature brand company, employees come from all different places, each with their own expertise and different cognitions and habits. However, after a series of internal discussions and break-in, we realized that we have one thing in common, that is, the persistence of the "green sustainable environmental issues", and has already penetrated into everyone's life, such as carrying personal tableware, reduce the use of plastic bags, and do garbage sorting...etc. Therefore, "being environmentally friendly" is a motto brand awareness of mittag jewelry.

 

 

When mittag jewelry thinks about how to practice the idea of ​​environmentally friendly on the packaging, we learn from a Taiwanese brand “Wooderful Life”, which is dedicated to wooden products, that using mature wood with poor carbon fixation can indirectly promote trees planting (planting new seedlings that increase carbon storage and distribute more oxygen), which can effectively slow down the earth's greenhouse effect. Hence, when we use wood products, we are making a contribution to reducing greenhouse gases. It is not that we generally recognize that the use of wood products is hurting forests. Therefore, after we searched many factories, mittag jewelry finally found the right business partner in Changhua and handmade our wooden jewelry boxes. Moreover, in order to be completely environmentally friendly, the surface of the jewelry box is only coated with natural wood wax, and it is processed without any chemical spray paint, showing its natural wood texture. In addition, in the mittag jewelry product, the leather holster packaging used in the bangle products is made of vegetable tanned cow leather. The vegetable tannin is the earliest method of tanning. It is made by extracting tannins from plants and other ingredients to make tannins. Therefore, the leather made from vegetable tannins does not contain chemical substances such as heavy metals, also can directly contact the skin, and can retain the natural texture and luster of the leather. This is the insistence of mittag jewelry on the packaging materials, and strive in line with brand awareness.

 

 

The electroplating process and mittag jewelry’s choice

 

Although in the article "What! The truth is…! The battle between silver and electroplated alloy jewelry", we once mentioned that the pollution of electroplating is one of the culprits that caused irreparable damage to the land, and this article has caused many customers to resound. Therefore, we take this opportunity to elaborate some facts you must know, and once again remind you to consider more before buying a jewelry.

 

To be correct, the electroplating process is not just for jewelry. It should be said that all metal hardware industries are likely to use this technology, so it belongs to the "electroplating and metal surface treatment industry" in the government industry classification. The source of pollution is not the plated product itself, but the wastewater generated during the electroplating process. Since the heavy metal ions contained in the polluted wastewater are positively charged, if it is not correctly treated, it enters the river farmland through the drainage facility, and the soil is negatively charged, so if it is combined with the soil, these metal ions exceed the background value, it will be firmly adsorbed on the surface of the soil, and will not be decomposed by microorganisms for years, and will affect the health of people on this land and the cultivated crops, stock farming and ecological environment here.

 

Because of the "economic take-off" period in Taiwan in the 1950s, due to the development of manufacturing industry, Taiwan was able to enjoy the reputation of "Asian Four Little Dragons", but the government in this era did not establish any regulations to supervise the industry. In 1982, the first "cadmium rice incident" in Taoyuan began, after the follow-up expansion of the detection, the area contaminated expanded to Taichung, Yunlin, Changhua and other places, with a pollution area of 533 hectares. A closer look at the comparison between the polluted areas and the industrial and commercial registration data reveals that it is related to the pollution of the "electroplating and metal surface treatment industry". 

 

sourced from：https://www.newsmarket.com.tw/electroplating/ch02/

sourced from：http://talk.news.pts.org.tw/show/13658

sourced from：https://www.newsmarket.com.tw/electroplating/ch04/

 

 

The future of mittag jewelry and the international thinking of sustainable jewelry

 

For the "Sustainable Jewelry" issue that has been popular in Europe, America and Japan in recent years, although in Taiwan jewelry industry, this issue has just started. mittag jewelry participated in the seminar held on December 1, 2018. In May 2020, mittag has successfully passed the review of "Fairmined" certification, introducing fair trade precious metals to Taiwan and providing consumers with more choices, becoming the only jewelry brand in Taiwan that uses fair trade precious metals. In March 2021, the "Organic Gold and Organic Silver" made by the more advanced and environmentally-friendly "eco gold stripping technique" were adapted by mittag. At the same time, we provide consumers with whatever they want to choose either from mines or recycling, both from the good intention of caring for the sustainable environment. It is worth mentioning that this advanced "echo gold stripping technique" is a new technology that is unique in the world, and it was invented by a Taiwanese company "UWin Nanotech"! The technology was also highly admired by President Tsai Ing-wen at the "Taiwan International Circular Economy Exhibition'' in 2018. The reason that mittag jewelry keeps moving forward, the most important purpose is to continue working hard with everyone for this land we love. The environment in Taiwan needs a long time to repair because of the past damage, but it’s future can be a beautiful environment for us to live forever with everyone’s participation and continuous attention on environment protection.