AISI, through its Steel Recycling Institute, supports state and local programs seeking to mandate curbside collection operations that encourage commingling of metals for recovery through magnetic separation. Any federal, state, or local legislation imposing the collection of specific or limited material types for recycling is opposed. State initiatives to extend landfill life by prohibiting appliance disposal are supported. AISI, through its Steel Recycling Institute, opposes any federal, state, or local legislation that mandates deposits or other methods of forced return of used food and beverage containers for a redemption value by the consumer or that discriminates against packaging material preference by establishing a per-unit tax. Steel is currently the most recycled material in commerce.
More steel is recycled than all other materials combined.
Steel's unique magnetic properties facilitate its separation from other materials. Steel from scrap, pre-consumer as well as post. Steel scrap accounts for about two-thirds of the raw steel production in the United States. Scrap, however, is not used in the same amounts in all steelmaking processes or, for that matter, in the production of all steel products. While some post-consumer scrap is utilized, scrap recirculated from within steel plants and from steel processors is also recovered.