The iron and steel (ferrous) recycling industry represents one of the greatest success stories of modern industry. Steel is by far the most recycled raw material in the world, with the United States alone processing more than 75 million metric tons of ferrous scrap in 2012. Recycled steel not only keeps manufacturing costs down, but it is also environmentally friendly, and can often be recycled multiple times. Appliances, automobiles, steel structures, ship plating, farm equipment—all of these and more can be re-processed at the end of their life span, yielding high-quality recycled steel to be formed into new products.
Look at a few statistics regarding recycled steel, as provided by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI):
- Using recycled ferrous scrap in iron and steel production reduces CO2 emissions by 58 percent compared to newly manufactured steel
- It requires 60 percent less energy to recycle steel than it does to manufacture it from iron ore
- Recycling the steel from one car saves 1400 pounds of coal and 2500 pounds of mined iron ore. (The U.S. recycled nearly 12 million cars in 2011.)
- The U.S. exports recycled ferrous scrap to 90 countries worldwide, making it the largest exporter of recycled steel in the world
- The U.S. processes enough recycled ferrous scrap every day to build 25 Eiffel Towers
Madison Steel is proud to be a participant in the ferrous recycling industry, providing our clients with high-quality heavy melting steel, shredded steel scrap, plate and structural steel and other recycled ferrous products according to ISRI standards. We specialize in volume purchases at competitive rates, expediting on-time deliveries from our seven strategic distribution facilities across the U.S. For more information on our products and services or to request a quote, please call us at 404-343-4855.
Recycling