Our Environmental Policy

Statement of Origin: Morris and Watson is opposed to activities which benefit conflict, violence and human rights abuses. The majority of our precious metal products are produced by recycled waste from Jewellers and industry along with local mines from within Australasia. Morris and Watson Ltd follows international best practice standards, including due diligence practiced on all new customers under our Know Your Client policy. Morris and Watson is also working towards gaining full membership with the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC).

Most of our precious metal products are produced by recycled waste from the Jewellery Industry within Australasia.

Alluvial gold from the South Island of New Zealand is another significant source of gold for Morris and Watson. These alluvial operations must comply with strict Department of Conservation protocols which firmly puts the responsibility on gold exploration, extraction and processing companies to minimise their environmental impact over the whole life cycle of their activities.

These products-being impure or of an unknown composition require refining. The refining process involves burning or melting the material and then chemically refining to a pure state in our Laboratory. The pure gold, silver, palladium and platinum is then recycled into fabricated product.

The precious metal recycling program is the foundation of 90 years of successful business and our edge in the market. We have fine tuned the refining processes with environmental sustainability in mind. For example: The melted and burnt exhaust is evacuated through afterburners and state of the art smoke and particulate scrubbing systems. The refinery use state of the art, custom designed, air extraction system has automatic pH dosing system, that is monitored and recorded daily.

The Accelerate R & D Program grant from Tech NZ allowed Morris and Watson to investigate and conduct a pilot study to remove the heavy metals and recycle the wastewater generated within the treatment facility. The Water Treatment Plant is now operational.

All waste water from other production areas are run through sediment traps before being discharged. The Lost Wax Casting process ensures the majority of the wax prior to the burnout stage is steamed out and not burnt into the environment.

Morris and Watson have a comprehensive system of rain water usage via roof catchment and tank storage that is useful for melt machine cooling and recycling throughout the factory.

All our systems are documented with an Environment Management Plan (EMP) which was prepared by consultants under the guidance of the management team. The EMP is monitored and complies with Auckland Council protocols.

Due to spikes in our production, there are times when we purchase pure metal from internationally accredited suppliers.