The amount of tin used in a steel can has gone down dramatically from pre-World War II levels of 50 pounds per ton of tinplate steel to a current average of six pounds per ton. Steel cans are easy to recycle due to their magnetic proper-ties and the limited number of potential contaminants in the remanufacturing process. Electric arc furnaces, however, are more geographically diverse and tend to have smaller capacities than basic oxygen furnaces. Detinners specialize in removing the tin from steel cans for resale in tin using industries, Steel scrap from detinning is either sold to the steel industry or to the copper precipitation industrv. Eight detinning plants are currently operating in the U.S. Iron and steel foundries are an emerging market for steel cans.
Foundries use scrap as a raw material in making castings and molds for industrial users.