Steel recycling

For decades, the steel industry has been reducing the need to use raw material and encouraging steel recycling. This material is the most recycled on the planet. More than all other materials (paper, plastic, aluminum, glass) combined.

The amazing metallurgical properties of steel allow recycling to continue, without degrading the yield from one product to another. Thus, the use of recycled steel leads to savings in terms of energy and raw material use, where ore-based production can be avoided.

Two out of three tons of new steel are produced from old steel. The use of ore is still necessary because many steel products remain in service (as durable goods) for decades, while the demand for steel throughout the world continues to grow.

Recycling of construction steel

In the field of constructions, another form of recycling is the reuse of steel products. The steel is not re-melted, but enters a new phase of product use. This process offers an even greater ecological benefit than recycling itself.

Many steel products can be easily reused. H Metal offers various diameters of recovered pipe. This pipe comes from gas, water or oil transport networks and can be used for: underpasses, metal formwork, drilled piles or floors.

In the 1970s and 1980s, steel mills needed 144 kg of raw material to obtain 100 kg of steel. Investments in research and technological improvements have meant that today in the steel industry only 115 kg of raw material is needed to obtain 100 kg of steel. From 1975 to 2005, the average energy consumption per ton of crude steel produced decreased by approximately 50%.

From an environmental point of view, steel recycling has a huge impact on reducing CO2 emissions. Among the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2) is relevant for the steel industry. Recycling significantly reduces the amount of CO2 emissions achieved by extracting and processing ores. According to the World Steel Association, each ton of recycled steel reduces on average 1.5 tons of CO2 emissions and 13 gigajoules of primary energy.

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