Recycling metal is important because it creates big business. It also plays an important role in conserving our national resources. It helps keep our highways and cities free from debris and helps preserve landfill space. America's Ready Resource , Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc., pp. The chart above and the example below give a simplified view of the cycle that steel might go through.
Iron ore is extracted from the ground.
The steel is then shipped to a buyer, such as a stamping plant or screw machine shop, to be fabricated. Scrap metal is also produced by the ultimate user at the end of the steel product's useful life. The obsolete product enters the recycling system at that point. After processing the scrap metal, the scrap processor will sell the processed scrap to a mill, foundry, or other concern that will use the metal to make new products. Ferrous scrap is scrap iron and steel.