Steel recycling

Steel recycling recovers steel scrap and remelts it to produce new steel products. It relies on steel’s ability to be melted and reformed repeatedly without losing its essential material properties.

Electric arc furnace: A furnace that melts metal using heat generated by electric arcs between electrodes and the charge. It is the main furnace for melting recycled steel scrap.
Steel: An iron-based alloy whose carbon content and other elements give it useful strength and formability. Steel’s composition and properties determine how scrap can be reused.
Steel industry: The industrial sector that produces and processes steel for use in goods and infrastructure. Steelmakers incorporate scrap into both electric-furnace and integrated production routes.
Basic oxygen steelmaking: A steelmaking process that refines molten pig iron by blowing oxygen through it, often with added scrap. It contrasts with scrap-centered electric-furnace production, though it also consumes scrap.
Circular economy: An economic model that seeks to keep products and materials in use through reuse, repair, and recycling. Steel recycling returns material to production rather than relying solely on newly mined inputs.
Scrap metal sorting: The separation of scrap metals by composition, grade, size, or other material characteristics. Sorting controls scrap quality and helps steelmakers avoid unwanted alloy elements.
Ferrous metallurgy: The science and technology of iron and iron-based alloys. Steel recycling is part of the wider processing of iron-based materials.
Electric arc furnace steelmaking: Steel production in which an electric arc furnace melts scrap and other metallic charge materials. This steelmaking route can use scrap as its principal metallic input.
Direct reduced iron: Iron produced by reducing iron ore in the solid state using a reducing gas or carbon source. It supplies virgin iron units that can dilute residual elements in scrap-based steel.
Recycling rate: The share of discarded material collected and processed for recycling under a specified definition. Steel’s recovery rate helps describe collection, but does not alone measure recycled content.

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