從2020年5月 mittag jewelry 開始採用Fairmined（公平採礦）的貴金屬開始（了解更多什麼是Fairmined公平採礦），我們時常都能從線上或實體商店得到許多消費者的肯定，因為有您的支持，我們一定會持續堅持下去的。今天想與您分享的是除了從礦區採礦的來源之外，您是否知道在現今的珠寶首飾產業裡所使用的貴金屬，還有一個來源隱藏在您我生活之間，尤其是金屬資源完全仰賴進口的台灣這個彈丸之地喔...現在就讓小編用這篇文章來好好地向您介紹吧~

 

 

轉個彎，台灣也是個富含礦產的城市礦山

 

黃金的來源除了採礦之外，其實還有一個選擇，就是選擇「回收金屬」；您有聽過「城市礦山」嗎？您知道延期一年的2020東京奧運所頒發給選手們的金牌、銀牌、銅牌都是取自於日本當地的電子廢棄物（e-waste）回收的金屬所製成的嗎？

圖片來源：TechNews  科技新報

100隻舊手機能夠提煉出3公克黃金。圖片來源：TechNews  科技新報

 

回收金屬指的是從大量的電子廢棄物如淘汰的手機和電腦等電子產品的PCB板中，回收有價值的金屬；尤其在台灣，除了從報廢電子產品回收的來源以外，台灣更是世界最主要的晶圓生產國之一，晶片廠富含許多晶片生產鏈裡所留下的淘汰次品與剩料，因此可回收的金屬蘊含量就更為可觀了，而其中最具經濟價值的則是貴金屬，像是黃金、白銀、鈀、銠等。就以小編先前提到的鄰國日本來說，他們也是一個資源仰賴進口的國家，但是，依照日本的研究機構在2008年所做的推算，若日本推行「城市礦山」所能獲得的貴金屬的種類與數量，其規模能夠排進世界前幾大的貴金屬「礦產國」。以金礦來說，日本的「城市礦山」佔全世界黃金礦蘊藏量的16%、銀礦佔22%，甚至鉑金就可擠進全世界礦產排名的前5名。想想看，台灣是不是也有條件往這個方向努力呢？答案是肯定的。但是綜觀貴金屬回收的全球現況來說，目前所要克服的挑戰反而是「二次汙染」與「消費者接受度」兩個問題，小編在此也分別一一向您說明。

 

 

現今金屬回收業的殘酷現實—回收可能是另一個污染的開始

 

這些回收的電子廢棄物、晶片生產的剩料所採用的剝金方式其實可能衍生出其他的環保問題。例如在較為落後的國家，電子垃圾進入處理場後所採取的處理方式，是工人們直接把廢電路板放在鐵爐上，用火燒熔塑膠外殼後提取晶片，焚燒時因此釋出大量的鉛、錫等汙染物質；另一種較高階的處理方式普遍被使用在大部分的國家，如同歐美、日本、台灣等等，其處理電子廢棄物方法也只是利用機械重擊破碎過後，焚燒熔煉後再將殘餘廢料掩埋而已。然而，令人憂心的是，業界普遍使用的金屬剝除劑，大都是含有劇毒的「氰化物」，只要不小心吸入、口服或被皮膚吸收，就可能引發中毒並導致生命危險。更簡陋一點的家庭工廠，甚至使用具強腐蝕性的「王水」，然後將廢液直接倒馬桶沖掉，更危害環境。當然，這些「城市礦山」若處理得當，可以使資源回到供應鏈裡再被使用，若處理不慎，強酸強鹼等有毒物質隨著PM2.5懸浮粒子揮散到空氣中、水質及土壤，造成二次汙染，可能會比未處理前更加嚴重。因此，若想要實現綠色回收金屬的目標，必定要在回收的環節裡也要達到環保的要求才行；但，世界上真的有這樣的革命性的技術嗎？有的，而且這項技術還是台灣公司發明的。

資料來源：優勝奈米(UWin Nanotech)

 

 

總統蔡英文也嘖嘖稱奇的台灣之光—全環保剝金術

 

為了改變先前提到的劣質回收方式，台灣公司「優勝奈米科技（UWin Nanotech）」運用專利技術研發出一種無氰化物的金屬剝除技術，能剝除包含金、銀、鈀等貴金屬，而他們使用的溶劑是中性的，不僅對環境友善，同時也無傷人體，而且比傳統使用氰化物和王水的剝金方式還具備更高的剝金效率，其剝金速度是傳統方法的2-4倍，回收率還能高出傳統的10%-20%，除了改善傳統回收方式所帶來的高污染，還達到保護空氣、土壤與水資源的綠色循環經濟目標，產出「全環保黃金」（全環保指的是來源以及提煉的過程，全都符合環保的原則）。

優勝奈米科技運用中性溶液的電化學反應，藉由外界提供電能，讓陽極上的金鍍層能進行解離，黃金與硫磺會逐漸融在一起並形成金硫化合物於陰極板上，「這就是所謂的逆向工程，東西怎麼來就怎麼回去。原本黃金就與硫磺共生，利用含有硫的溶劑，將黃金從電子零組件上擷取出來。」不僅剝金迅速，溶劑還能重複使用，且因電解剝金劑的成分以硫化物為主，相當溫和，不用帶手套就可以直接把手放進溶劑裡去。連總統蔡英文於2018年參訪「台灣國際循環經濟展」時，看到優勝奈米的示範驚訝地說：「好神奇的水！」。

影片來源：中視新聞NEW一下

資料來源：優勝奈米(UWin Nanotech)

 

身為永續珠寶平台的成員— mittag jewelry在參訪優勝奈米時也是充滿好奇與驚喜，之後更在2021年3月26 日於南港世貿展覽館舉辦的「臺北智慧城市展」，經由「永續珠寶平台」與「義達創新股份有限公司」和「優勝奈米科技有限公司」三方共同簽署合作備忘錄MOU，自此mittag jewelry正式採用「優勝奈米科技」所提煉的「全環保」黃金、白銀，並共同正式取名為『有機金』、『有機銀』（取其自「有機」定義，是一種較不污染環境、不破壞生態，並能提供消費者健康與安全商品的生產方式）。並開始以公平貿易黃金/白銀(Fairmined Gold/Silver)與回收貴金屬有機金/有機銀(organic gold/organic silver)雙材料的方式提供給消費者選擇，確保任何您在mittag jewelry所選擇的商品背後的材料來源都是符合友善環境這個良善立意而來的。

「永續珠寶平台」與「義達創新股份有限公司」和「優勝奈米科技有限公司」三方共同簽署合作備忘錄

除中英文名稱以外，圖中技術標誌為暫時使用，最終標誌設計以優勝奈米公司公布為準。

 

 

資源循環再利用的全球趨勢｜東西方消費者接收度大不同

 

這裡，小編來分享個小案例：戴爾電腦（DELL）在2014年推出一款以回收材料所生產的筆電，而這款筆電的賣價高於一般筆電，並在歐美及亞洲同步上市，結果歐美市場大賣，在亞洲卻銷況低迷；從後續的分析得知，對於歐美民眾來說，再生品雖然比較貴，但是對於環境保護、資源永續使用上有正面的幫助；對比之下，亞洲市場則較偏好選擇使用新製原料的商品。小編推斷這是為什麼2020東京奧運主辦國日本鼓勵民眾將廢棄電子產品回收來作為獎牌的原料，並趁此教育日本大眾，這些回收的貴金屬並不會因為它的來源而影響純度而變成次級品等觀念。反而，支持「使用回收再生資源」議題的真正目的是在於讓民眾正視「資源循環利用能有效減緩地球資源枯竭」的事實，並期望由政府起頭帶領企業與民眾開始力行生產與使用回收資源再製的綠色商品。

同理，在首飾的原料選擇層面上，其實對mittag jewelry來說也是一種挑戰，因為從創立品牌的開始，mittag就使用循環再生的金屬；並於2021年開始採用優勝奈米的「有機金、有機銀」。雖然在推廣mittag品牌理念時，需要花費許多的時間加以說明介紹，但絕大部分的消費者是非常支持我們的。台灣號稱資源回收王國，回收率高達90％以上在全球赫赫有名（世界排名第二，僅次於德國），因此從民眾的回收意識高、回收產業鏈完整、台灣城市礦山含金量高都顯示出亞洲在這波循環經濟意識抬頭的變革中，台灣必定是最重要的國家之一，當然，您必定也是其中的重要一員。

 

 

不只mittag jewelry，世界知名品牌PANDORA也支持回收貴金屬

 

先前提及的電腦品牌龍頭戴爾電腦（Dell）因為支持「循環經濟」，除了努力在品牌內的產品上實現外，並與知名女星Nikki Reed擁有的珠寶品牌Bayou With Love合作，從大量的舊電腦主機板中提煉出黃金並製做成珠寶，展現出大品牌執行循環經濟的魄力。您可以從mittag先前文章（台灣需要的循環經濟(2)  「搖籃到搖籃」的綠色思維）中了解更多。

令人振奮的，國際珠寶品牌PANDORA也計劃在2025年前全面改用回收黃金和白銀來製做旗下產品，將成為全球第一家完全以回收金銀取代礦業開採貴金屬的大型珠寶商，我們期望經由國際品牌的帶領，消費者更願意接受使用回收金屬製作的珠寶、首飾，跟我們一起為永續環境、珍惜資源而做出改變喔~

圖片來源：Jose Luis Fettolini

 

 

（續）加入使用「有機金、有機銀」的行列｜讓循環經濟能早日在世界實現

 

自從這篇文章發表之後，受到許多國內外的同業與消費者的關注。尤其是接到珠寶業者必讀的聖經『Sustainable Jewellery（永續珠寶）』的作者Jose Luis Fettolini的來信，他是在國際上提倡循環經濟與永續珠寶議題的重要靈魂人物，並與mittag jewelry創辦人在「有機金、有機銀」和台灣「優勝奈米公司」的「環保剝金術」等等的議題上交換意見，並在mittag同意之下將本文章引用在他所創辦的線上金工學校「Workshop R2」的官網部落格中。

另外，由於文章先前提到，「永續珠寶平台」與「義達創新股份有限公司」和「優勝奈米科技有限公司」三方於2021年3月共同簽署合作意向書，「永續珠寶平台」為唯一授權經銷平台，並計畫朝向「品牌商認證」的方式執行以維持材料來源的可追朔性。因此，若有同業想使用全環保的「有機金、有機銀」，歡迎透過以下的信箱聯繫「[email protected]」，將會有專人回覆。因為『一個人雖然走的快，一群人卻能走的遠』，為了一起走得更遠，真誠的邀請您加入我們一同攜手往前邁進。

#有機金

#有機銀

#環保剝金術

#全環保黃金

#優勝奈米

#永續珠寶

#循環經濟

#蔡英文總統

 

 

 

 

Taiwan has rich gold mines｜mittag jewelry adopts "organic gold and silver"

by mittag jewelry

Since mittag jewelry began to adopt Fairmined precious metals in May 2020 (learn more about Fairmined), we can often get affirmation from many consumers online or in stores, because of your support, we will keep going. What we’d like to share with you today is in addition to mining, do you know that the precious metals used in the jewelry industry nowadays have another source hidden in our lives, especially like in Taiwan, where metal resources are completely dependent on imports. Now just let us share more about it.

 

 

From a different angle, Taiwan is rich in urban mine

 

Apart from mining, the source of gold actually has another option, which is to choose "recycling metal". Have you ever heard of "urban mines"? Did you know that the gold, silver, and bronze medals awarded to the athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which are postponed for one year, are all made from metals recycled from local electronic waste (e-waste) in Japan?

sourced from: TechNews

100 discarded mobile phones can extract 3 grams of gold. sourced from: TechNews

 

Recycling metal refers to the recovery of valuable metals from a large amount of electronic waste like PCB boards of electronic products such as eliminated mobile phones and computers. Especially in Taiwan, in addition to the sources of recycling from scrap electronic products, Taiwan is one of the major wafer production countries. Wafer fabs are rich in many leftover materials in the production chain. Therefore, the recyclable metal content is even more impressive, and among them, the most valuable is precious metals, such as gold, silver, palladium, rhodium, etc. In the case of neighboring Japan mentioned earlier, they are also a country that depends on imports. However, according to calculations made by Japanese research institutions in 2008, if Japan promotes "urban mines", the type and quantity of the metal obtained can be ranked among the top precious metal "mining countries" in the world. In terms of gold mines, Japan’s "urban mines" account for 16% of the world’s gold reserves, and silver mines account for 22%. Even platinum can be ranked into the top 5 of the world’s mineral reserves. Think about it, does Taiwan have the conditions to work in this direction? The answer is yes. However, looking at the global current situation of precious metal recycling, the current challenges to be overcome are the two issues of "secondary pollution" and "consumer acceptance." We will also explain to you one by one.

 

 

The cruel reality of metal recycling industry—recycling may be the beginning of another pollution

 

The gold stripping method used for the recycled e-waste and chip production leftovers may actually give rise to other environmental issues. For example, in relatively undeveloped countries, the way that e-waste is treated after entering the disposal site is that workers directly put scrap circuit boards on the iron furnace, melt the plastic shell with fire and extract the chips, which releases a large amount of lead, tin and other pollutants during incineration. Another higher-level treatment method is commonly used in most countries, such as Europe, America, Japan, Taiwan, etc. The method of disposing of electronic waste is using mechanical smash and then incineration and smelting. Afterwards, the remaining waste materials will be buried. What is worrying, however, is that most of the metal stripping liquid commonly used in the industry contain highly toxic "cyanide." As long as they are accidentally inhaled, taken orally, or absorbed by the skin, they may cause poisoning and lead to life-threatening. The simpler family factories even use the highly corrosive "aqua regia" and then flush the waste liquid directly into the toilet, which is even more harmful to the environment. Of course, if these "urban mines" are handled properly, resources can be returned to the supply chain to be used again. If handled carelessly, toxic substances such as strong acids and alkalis will evaporate into the air, water and soil along with PM2.5 suspended particles. The secondary pollution may be more serious than no treatment. Therefore, if we want to achieve the goal of green recycling of metals, we should also meet environmental protection requirements in the recycling process; but is there really such a revolutionary technology in the world? Yes, and this technology was invented by a Taiwanese company.

sourced from: UWin Nanotech. Co. Ltd.

 

 

President Tsai Ing-wen also praised the amazing invention—environmentally friendly gold striping technology

 

In order to change the previously mentioned poor recycling method, the Taiwan company "UWin Nanotech" has developed a cyanide-free metal stripping technology using patented technology, which can strip precious metals such as gold, silver and palladium. The solvent they use is neutral, which is not only friendly to the environment, but also harmless to the human body. It also has a higher gold stripping efficiency than the traditional gold stripping method using cyanide and aqua regia, and its stripping speed is 2-4 times faster than the traditional method, and the recycling rate can be higher at 10%-20%. In addition to preventing the high pollution caused by traditional recycling methods, it also achieves the goal of a green circular economy that protects air, soil and water resources, producing “all environmentally friendly gold” (refers to the source and the process of refining, all in line with the principles of environmental protection).

UWin Nanotech uses the electrochemical reaction of a neutral solution to dissociate the gold coating on the anode by providing electrical energy from the outside. The gold and sulfur will gradually melt together and form a gold-sulfur compound on the cathode plate. "This is so-called reverse engineering, things are returned to wherever they come. Originally, gold and sulfur used to co-exist, solvents containing sulfur are used to extract gold from electronic components." Not only stripping quickly, the solvents can also be reused. The composition of the electrolytic gold stripping agent is mainly sulfide, which is quite mild, and people can put their hands in the solvent directly without wearing gloves. When President Tsai Ing-wen visited the "Taiwan International Circular Economy Exhibition" in 2018, was surprised to see the demonstration and praised: "What a magical water!"

sourced from: CTV News

sourced from: UWin Nanotech. Co. Ltd.

 

As a member of the sustainable jewelry group — mittag jewelry was also full of curiosity and surprises when visiting UWin Nano. Later, at the "Taipei Smart City Exhibition" held at the Nangang World Trade Center Exhibition Hall on March 26, 2021, through the "Sustainable Jewelry Platform" and "Etouch Innovation Co., Ltd." and "UWin Nanotech Co., Ltd." signed a MOU. Since then, mittag jewelry has officially adopted the "all environmentally friendly" gold and silver refined by "UWin Nanotech". We jointly officially named it "organic gold" and "organic silver" (taken from the definition of "organic", which is a production method that does not pollute the environment, does not damage the ecology, and can provide consumers with health and safety products). And began to provide consumers with options of Fairmined gold/silver and recycled precious metal organic gold/organic silver, ensuring that any product you choose from mittag jewelry, the source of the materials is in line with the concept of environmentally friendly .

 "Sustainable Jewelry Platform" and "Etouch Innovation Co., Ltd." and "UWin Nanotech Co., Ltd." signed a MOU at Taipei Smart City Exhibition

Except for the Chinese and English names, the technical logo in the picture is for temporary use, and the final logo design is subject to the announcement by UWin Nanotech.

 

 

The global trend of resource recycling | East and West consumer acceptance is very different

 

Here, we will share a case: Dell computer launched a notebook made from recycled materials in 2014, and the selling price of this notebook was higher than ordinary notebooks, and it was launched in Europe, America and Asia at the same time. After a while, the sales in the European and American markets were good, but sales in Asia were sluggish. From the follow-up analysis, we learned that for European and American consumers, although recycled products are more expensive, they are positively helpful to environmental protection and sustainable use of resources. In contrast, the Asian market prefers products that use new raw materials. We assume that this is why Japan, the host country of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, encourages the public to recycle e-waste as raw materials for medals, and uses this to educate the Japanese public that these recycled precious metals will not affect its purity. On the contrary, the real purpose of supporting "using recycled resources" is to make the people accept the fact that "resource recycling can effectively slow down the consumption of the earth's resources", and hope that the government will lead enterprises and people to start producing and using recycled resources making green products.

In the same way, in terms of the selection of raw materials for jewelry, it is actually a challenge for mittag jewelry, because since the creation of the brand, mittag has used recycled metals; and in 2021, we have adopted UWin Nanotech’s "organic gold, organic silver". Although it takes a lot of time to explain and introduce the brand concept of mittag, the vast majority of consumers are very supportive of it. Taiwan is known as the kingdom of resource recycling, with a recycling rate over 90% and it is well-known in the world (ranked second in the world, right after Germany). Therefore, the people’s high awareness of recycling, the complete recycling industry chain, and the high gold content rate of Taiwan’s urban mines. In this wave of changes in the awareness of the circular economy, Taiwan must be one of the most important countries, and of course, you must also be an important member.

 

 

Not only mittag jewelry, the world famous brand PANDORA also supports the recycling of precious metals

 

The previously mentioned leading computer brand, Dell, supports the "circular economy", in addition to working hard to implement the products within the brand, it also cooperated with the jewelry brand Bayou With Love owned by the well-known actress Nikki Reed. Gold is extracted from the computer motherboard and made into jewelry, demonstrating the determination of the big brand to implement circular economy. You can learn more from mittag's previous article (The circular economy that Taiwan needs (2)  "cradle to cradle").

Excitingly, the international jewelry brand PANDORA also plans to fully switch to recycled gold and silver to make its products by 2025. It will become the world's first large-scale jeweller to completely replace mining precious metals with recycled gold and silver. Under the leadership of international brands, we look forward to seeing consumers are more willing to accept jewellery made from recycled metals, and work with us together to make changes for a sustainable environment and cherish resources~

sourced from: Jose Luis Fettolini

 

 

(Continued) Join us using "organic gold and organic silver"｜Let the circular economy be realized in the world as soon as possible

 

Since this article was published, it has attracted the attention of many jewellers and consumers domestic and abroad. In particular, we received a letter from Jose Luis Fettolini, the author of the "Sustainable Jewellery", a must-read Bible by the jewelry industry. He is an important soul figure who advocates circular economy and sustainable jewelry issues internationally, and he exchanged views on issues of "organic gold, organic silver" and "all environmentally friendly gold stripping technique" with mittag jewelry’s founder, and with the consent of mittag, this article was quoted on the official website in the online goldsmith school he founded "Workshop R2".

In addition, as the article mentioned earlier, the "Sustainable Jewelry Platform" and "Etouch Innovation Co., Ltd." and "UWin Nanotech Co., Ltd." signed a MOU in March 2021. The "Sustainable Jewelry Platform" is the only one authorized distribution platform, and planned to implement it towards "brand certification" in order to maintain the traceability of the source of materials. Therefore, if any jewelry brands want to use the environmentally friendly "organic gold, organic silver", please feel free to contact the following mailbox "[email protected]", and someone will reply. Because "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." In order to go far together, we sincerely invite you to join us and move forward hand in hand.

 

#OrganicGold

#OrganicSilver

#EnvironmentallyFriendlyGoldStripingTechnology

#AllEnvironmentallyFriendlyGold

#UWinNanotech

#SustainableJewelry

#CircularEconomy

#PresidentTsaiIng-wen