It takes 200 million Btu's to produce a ton of aluminum cans from virgin materials and only 50 Btu's to produce a ton of aluminum cans from used cans. Strong magnets easily separate steel from other recyclables. Vegetables and soups are packaged in steel cans. Name an item in your clothes closet that is made from steel. Iron ore, scrap, coke, limestone and energy are required to make steel.
Scrap is old steel from cans, cars, appliances, construction materials, and other steel products.
It is a necessary ingredient in the production of all new steel. Iron ore is mined and shipped to steel mills where it is processed into molten iron. The molten iron is loaded into a furnace and with the scrap steel becomes part of the new steel mix. Limestone helps ensure that the new steel is of high quality by causing the impurities which may be in the molten iron to rise to the surface. These impurities, known as slag, are then skimmed off the top leaving the molten iron.