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Steel Sustains in Recyclability Fact Sheet

Steel is fully recyclable and plays a crucial role in the circular economy by conserving resources and reducing landfill waste. The North American steel industry recycles millions of tons of steel annually, significantly lowering greenhouse gas emissions and saving energy equivalent to powering 18 million homes. Additionally, the industry supports over 531,000 jobs and generates substantial economic activity through its recycling efforts.

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28 views2 pages

Steel Sustains in Recyclability Fact Sheet

Steel is fully recyclable and plays a crucial role in the circular economy by conserving resources and reducing landfill waste. The North American steel industry recycles millions of tons of steel annually, significantly lowering greenhouse gas emissions and saving energy equivalent to powering 18 million homes. Additionally, the industry supports over 531,000 jobs and generates substantial economic activity through its recycling efforts.

Uploaded by

Valentino Rossi
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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#SteelSustains

SUSTAINABILITY
IN STEEL RECYCLING
Steel is 100 percent recyclable, which means it can be recycled into the same
material of the same quality again and again. A steel beam can become another
steel beam, or a refrigerator, car door or roof panel. When you buy steel you
are buying recycled. In addition to being continually recyclable, steel’s durable
characteristics enable many common products to be reused.

Steel recycling is important to the circular economy as it conserves valuable


resources and diverts useful materials from going to landfills. Millions of tons of
steel are diverted from waste streams to recycling streams every year due to steel’s
magnetic properties that make it easy to separate from solid waste.

Domestic steel mills recycle their own steel scrap, as well as scrap from downstream
product manufacturing processes and end-of-life products, to conserve energy,
emissions and natural resources. There are typically 60 to 80 million tons of steel
scrap recycled per year into new steel products in North America. In the past 30
years, more than one billion tons of steel scrap have been recycled into new steel by
the North American steel industry. On average, the United States processes enough
ferrous scrap daily, by weight, to build 25 Eiffel Towers every day of the year!

Steel’s attributes, including its inherent durability and recyclability, make it vital to modern
society. The North American steel industry is committed to manufacturing innovative products
and implementing processes that achieve environmental, social and economic sustainability.
Recycling the steel from a single car reduces greenhouse gas emissions by an
equivalent of consuming more than 150 gallons of gasoline. Recycling a single
refrigerator reduces the resulting greenhouse gas emissions by 215 pounds
of CO2. Each year, the steel industry recycles steel from about 12 million
appliances. Even recycling one steel food can conserves enough energy to light
a 10-watt LED light bulb for more than 24 hours. Spread this over the 20 billion
steel cans that are recycled each year and the savings are astounding.

Through recycling, the steel industry saves enough energy to supply the annual
electricity needs of more than 18 million homes. A single ton of steel recycled
conserves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of
limestone.* The steel industry’s need for steel scrap is a job creator, supporting
more than 531,000 scrap recycling jobs and generating more than $110 billion
in economic activity.

Steel Sustains. For more information on steel’s sustainable properties and


performance, please follow us on social media @AISISteel, @EnviroMetal,
or contact Mark Thimons, AISI Vice President of Sustainability
([email protected]).

*Updated statistics on this data point will be available in late 2020.

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