By GreenBiz Staff:
Pittsburgh, PA — The U.S. steel recycling rate hit a high of 83.3 percent in 2008 as the recycling rates for containers and construction steel continued upwards and others held steady.
The Steel Recycling Institute recently released figures for recycling rates from 2008, based on information gathered from scrap processors, steel producers, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
From a high point of 75.7 percent in 2005, U.S. steel recycling rates dipped down to about 68 percent in 2006, and then climbed up to about 78 percent in 2007 before climbing further last year, when 82 million tons of domestic steel scrap was recycled.
All new steel contains some level of recycled steel, and in the U.S., new steel has a minimum of 28 percent scrap in it, with some operations using up to 90 percent recycled material.
The recycling rate for steel containers reached 65.2 percent in 2008, a figure that has steadily climbed up from a low of 55.9 percent in 1998. The rate for construction reinforcement steel like rebar increased to 70 percent from 65 percent, where it had stayed steady for a few years.
The rates for appliance and structural steel both stayed the same as previous years. Appliance recycling has been at 90 percent since 2005 and structural steel has been at 97.5 percent since 2004.
Automotive steel recycling was at 106 percent in 2008, and has been over 100 percent since 2002. The Steel Recycling Institute notes that figure has been above 100 percent because older vehicles are typically heavier than newer ones.
