NEW YORK - February 5, 2020 - Back Market, the largest marketplace exclusively dedicated to refurbished electronic products and fostering a more circular economy, has partnered with NoWa, to launch G.OLD, a sustainable jewelry collection created with metals mined from discarded phones. The G.OLD line was created by Dutch designer Eva Schreuder for NoWa, a jewelry company that uses gold and silver extracted directly from old cell phones to produce pieces that promote a "conscious connection." The collection offers a unique gift just in time for Valentine’s Day. For Back Market, it is also a great opportunity to remind people to show the planet some love too.
Worldwide, 50 million tons of electronic waste is produced every year, 70% of which ends up either improperly recycled or in the landfill. What many don’t realize is that this trash is actually everyone’s treasure: if all the metals were recovered from just 100,000 phones, it would yield an estimated 5.3 pounds (2.4 kilograms) of gold, more than 1,984 pounds (900 kilograms) of copper, 55 pounds (25 kilograms) of silver, and more.
NoWa, with upcycling partner Closing The Loop, creates jewelry mined from discarded phones. The company’s vision is to create connections to each other and to the earth. The G.OLD collection aims to inspire connections and awareness, and provide another way to open lines of communication about the global e-waste crisis.
“Since day one, Back Market has been dedicated to the fight against electronic waste. This collaboration with NoWa is a way for us to bring the message to people in a new way, to show them how much value our electronics have and to demonstrate that there are many small ways that a person can do their part in reducing our electronic waste, whether it’s by buying refurbished electronics or sustainable jewelry on Valentine’s Day.”, explains Vianney Vaute, Back Market Co-Founder.
“I’m really proud of this collaboration with Back Market, and to share our goal to create meaningful jewelry for your loved ones while contributing to less e-waste worldwide.” said Josette de Vroeg, Founder of NoWa. “Designer Eva Schreuder is turning trash into treasure every day.”
The precious metals used to create the pendants were extracted from discarded phones that were collected by the organization Closing the Loop to be recycled responsibly in Europe.
This collection of pendants, made by hand in gold or silver by designer Eva Schreuder, come in three limited edition designs: key, circle and ampersand. Only 100 pieces, priced between 39.95 Eur to 49.45 Eur (about $44.24 to $54.76) are on sale today on a site dedicated to this collection: https://gold.backmarket.com/.
Back Market will not be receiving any of the proceeds from this collection.
Formed in 2014 by Thibaud Hug de Larauze, Quentin Le Brouster, and Vianney Vaute, Back Market is the first marketplace focused on bringing thousands of refurbished electronic devices and appliances from certified professionals to consumers. The company currently operates in six European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the UK) and launched in the United States at the beginning of 2018. It employs a team of about 250 employees across its three offices located in Paris, Bordeaux, and New York.
In 2015, Josette worked for Closing the Loop, focusing on the circular use of mobile phones and upcycling them to avoid electronic waste. It was at this moment that she, with her friend Joyce, had the idea of creating beautiful jewelry from the discarded phones collected by Closing the Loop.
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