The North American steel industry annually recycles millions of tons of steel scrap from recycled cans, automobiles, appliances, construction materials and other steel products. This scrap is remelted to produce new steel. There are two processes for making steel. And, since all new steel products contain recycled steel, when you buy steel you help to close the recycling loop by buying recycled.
Many communities operate recycling programs which include steel cans.
Several also provide options to recycle appliances. And while consumers are not actively involved, virtually every car taken off the road is recycled. More than 200 million Americans have convenient access to steel can recycling through curbside, drop-off and buyback programs, as well as through magnetic separation at resource recovery facilities. The industry remelted more than 18 billion steel cans into new products. The steel from the more than 39 million appliances recycled last year yielded enough steel to build about 160 stadiums the size of the new Pittsburgh Steeler Stadium.