Transforming X-ray Film into Exquisite Jewelry: Britain's Official Coinmaker Leads the Way

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When examining an X-ray film, one might notice fractured bones or foreign objects floating within it, but the film itself contains a small amount of silver. Now, The Royal Mint, the UK's oldest company and official producer of British coins, is utilizing that silver to craft jewelry.

The sourcing of the silver involved a partnership with Betts Metals, a Birmingham-based company with over 250 years of experience in recovering precious metals from waste. Charlie Betts, the company's managing director, explained that Betts collects used X-ray film from hospitals that would otherwise end up in landfills or be incinerated.

The film is processed through a machine to be chopped into small pieces, followed by chemical processing to separate the silver. The silver is then smelted and transferred to another site for refining to 99.9% purity, similar to other sources of fine silver.

Hospitals are compensated for the value of the reclaimed silver. Betts emphasizes that the amount of silver obtained can vary widely among X-ray films, and a considerable amount of film is required to make the recovery process cost-effective.

The Royal Mint uses recovered silver for its 886 jewelry collection.

886 by The Royal Mint

Good as gold

Betts' recovered X-ray silver is now being utilized by other jewelers, including London-based Angharad, while the Royal Mint is also extracting gold from electronic waste. The Mint employs "world-first chemistry" from Canadian company Excir to recover over 99% of precious metals from e-waste like laptop circuit boards and mobile phones within minutes.

Globally, over 50 million metric tons of e-waste is generated annually, with less than 20% being recycled. This results in valuable precious metals worth $57 billion being discarded or forgotten instead of being reused. Some of this waste ends up in landfills and can contaminate soil and groundwater, while informal recycling, particularly in developing countries, exposes workers to toxic metals. Furthermore, mining for new precious metals can also lead to water contamination and environmental damage.

Is the solution to the thousands of plastic tents discarded at festivals the use of cardboard tents instead? The Royal Mint is planning to open a new Precious Metals Recovery plant that will process 4,000 metric tons of the UK's e-waste annually, as stated by Sean Millard, the Chief Growth Officer of The Royal Mint.

Wearing waste

The Royal Mint's 886 jewelry collection utilizes X-ray silver and e-waste gold, which, according to Dominic Jones, the creative director of 886, perform just as well as mined metals. Jones emphasizes the importance of preserving precious metals that have already been mined, noting that 7% of the world's gold reserve is contained in discarded electronics such as broken laptops and old cell phones.

Jones expressed his discomfort with the idea of unused material while new materials are constantly being extracted. "X-ray silver is no different," he stated. "It's a previously untapped source of silver that has been idle until now."

Moving forward, The Royal Mint plans to exclusively use sustainable and traceable sources for its jewelry.

Jones expressed his desire for his creations to endure for generations, serving not only as aesthetically pleasing designs but also as a model of innovative sustainability that employs environmentally friendly materials. "I aim for these pieces to be timeless - future antiques," stated Jones. "It's a win-win."