Screen reader version:
- Has been used for over 1000 years
- Is the only common metal that will stick to a magnet
- Is the most recycled material on Earth
- Steel is extremely economical to recycle because of its magnetic qualities and because it doesn’t lose any of its inherent strength qualities, no matter how many times it is recycled.
What is Steel?
Steel is an alloy material made of iron and other elements including carbon.
You will also find the following elements present in steel:
- Manganese
- Phosphorus
- Sulphur
- Silicon
- Oxygen
- Nitrogen
- Aluminum
Hard Facts
25 million – number of tonnes of steel products produced each year
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2 million – the number of people the world steel industry employs
200 – the number of steel cans of food produced
Nicolas Appert – invented the steel can in 1810 as a way to preserve food for Napoleon’s army
2/3 – amount of cans on supermarket shelves made of steel
The Lifecycle of Recycled Steel
Purchased – consumables are bought from the supermarket
Consumed – product is consumed or used
Disposed in recycling – waste steel is put in recycling
Collected – recycling is collected
Sorted – then sorted
Baled and compacted – products are baled and compacted for ease of transport and handling
Melted – the recovered materials are melted in a furnace
Iron added – molten iron is added
Heated – oxygen is blasted into the furnace, which is heated to 1700 degrees centigrade
Cooled and rolled – the melted metal is poured into slab moulds and rolled into coils and flat sheets
Remoulded – these sheets are used to manufacture new products
Shipped – products are shipped to shops and supermarkets
Recycled Steel Statistics
- Recycling 1 tonne of steel saves 1.5 tonnes of iron ore, 0.5 tonnes of coal
- 86% saved in air pollution
- 40%saved in water use
- 76% saved in water pollution
- 42% – new metals made using recycled steel
- 62 – 74% energy saving
- 200 million tonnes – recycling raw materials cuts CO2 emissions by this amount every year
- 100% – amount of steel cans that are recyclable
- 2.5 billion – the number of cans recycled each year
- 18,000 – the weight equivalent in double-decker buses
- 25% – percentage of steel cans made from recycled steel
- 26 hours – how long you can power a 60-watt light bulb for with the energy saved from recycling seven steel cans
- 94% – the percentage of steel recycled when a building is demolished
Steel is an essential materials that is pivotal to our way of life and to the products we will demand for a sustainable future.
It is a unique material that can be used forever once made; it has a unique ability to be truly recycled through a closed-loop system, which will lead to the further preservation of Earth’s precious resources.
infographic courtesy www.colorcoat-online.com
image 1: Pixabay
