Making Gold Coins from E-Waste
From trash to treasure
Today’s eco snapshot👇🏽
Making Gold Coins from E-Waste
Startup of The Week: Valley Culture
5 Sustainable Brands I Recently Discovered
News That Lifted My Spirits This Week
3 Ways I Can Support Your Sustainability Journey
🪙 Making Gold Coins from E-Waste
The Royal Mint, the folks who make coins, are doing something pretty awesome. They've built this big plant in Wales to get gold from old electronics. It's like urban treasure hunting!
The scale of the e-waste problem is staggering. According to the UN, a staggering 62 million tonnes of electronic waste were discarded in 2022 alone, with projections indicating a one-third increase by 2030.
The Royal Mint's initiative aims to tackle this issue head-on, transforming what was once considered waste into valuable resources.
Their process involves heating circuit boards to separate components, and then using a chemical solution to extract gold at room temperature. This method is both energy-efficient and environmentally friendly compared to traditional gold recovery techniques.
This isn't just good for the planet - it's helping the Royal Mint stay relevant.
As fewer people use cash, they're finding new ways to use their skills. They're turning this recycled gold into jewelry and special coins.
It's a win-win situation - they're keeping jobs while making the world a bit greener.
⌛ Time for the quiz of the week
Answer at the end of the newsletter. No one (including me) can see your response so feel free to vote 😉
✨ Startup of the week: Valley Culture
This team is bringing ethically sourced Himalayan produce to the world.
Agricultural Crisis…Agriculture stands at the forefront of the climate crisis. Conventional farming practices, while productive, are depleting our planet. They rely heavily on chemical inputs and unsustainable land management. As a result, we have degraded soils, dwindling biodiversity, and a compromised future for agriculture.
Sustainable Farming…Valley Culture is addressing this critical challenge through traditional farming practices that honor the land and nurture the environment. It works directly with farmers in the Himalayan region and supports age-old methods that sustain both the soil and the community.
With the farmers, they produce goods such as:
🍯 Honey
🍚 Red Rice
🍜 Resilient Millets and Lentils
🌶️ Spices
🫓 Flour
🍵 Healing Teas
Empowering farmers…These farmers, with their rich traditions, often struggle to compete with industrial giants. They face challenges in accessing suitable markets and pricing their products fairly.
Valley Culture bridges this gap. It creates robust supply chains that empower these traditional farmers—offering them support in storage, transport, and packaging. It also connects them with markets that value quality and sustainability.
This collaboration not only ensures better livelihoods for the farmers but also protects our soils and preserves the planet for future generations.
✅ 5 Sustainable Brands I Recently Discovered
SHARC Energy: Extracting heat from warm wastewater and using it to heat buildings.
Back Market: Buys your old electronics and helps you save money and the planet.
Cocoon: Reducing the carbon emissions of steel and cement, together.
Minus Coffee: Making coffee using upcycled pits, roots & seeds instead of beans.
Sway: Replacing single-use plastic with a seaweed-based alternative.
😹 News That Lifted My Spirits This Week
🔻 Amazon Deforestation Decline: Brazil's Amazon rainforest experienced a significant decrease in deforestation, with a 46% reduction compared to the previous year. Government satellite data shows this is the largest drop since 2016, with the rainforest losing 4,300 square kilometers (equivalent to Rhode Island's size) in the past 12 months.
🚎 Public Transport Incentives: Belgium, France, and Austria are leading the way in sustainable transportation by requiring employers to cover employees' public transport costs, aiming to promote eco-friendly commuting and reduce financial burdens on citizens.
🥃 Corporate Conservation: Jack Daniel's parent company, Brown-Forman, is taking action to preserve white oak forests, crucial for bourbon production. Recognizing the long-term risks of oak decline, the company's efforts showcase how corporate advocacy can highlight conservation issues often overlooked by the general public.
💁🏼 3 Ways I Can Support Your Sustainability Journey
Do you want to be featured in this newsletter and on LinkedIn, where I write impactful stories every day? Submit your story
If you’re a planet-friendly brand, I can help you with your blogs, newsletters, case studies, and whitepapers. Here’s some of my recent work
If you would like to chat about anything related to sustainability and climate change, you can book a free call
Give that 💚 a little tap or drop a comment below if you learned something new today. It also keeps me motivated and energized!
Enjoy your weekend, and see you next week😊