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IISI Study Reveals Growing Trend for Steel Recycling

01/31/2008 - Data gathered by the International Iron and Steel Institute shows that the steel can remains the world’s most recycled packaging material.

The steel can remains the world’s most recycled packaging material, according to data gathered by the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI).
 
2006 steel can recycling data
Country
or Region
‘000 of Tonnes Recycled
Recycling
rate
Brazil
292     
47%
Canada
145
62%
EU
2,479
66%
Korea
222
73%
Japan
721
88%
S. Africa
129
68%
Turkey
79
33%
USA
1,306
63%
China
1,266
75%
Total
6,639
67%
Across the 35 countries that were represented in the study, 6.6 million tonnes of steel cans were recycled in 2006. The recycling of this volume of steel cans helped to prevent approximately 11.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from being released into the environment.
 
IISI collects data on the world steel can recycling rate every year. This year, for the first time, recycling figures for Brazil, Turkey and China were reported. The overall packaging recycling rate was 67% in 2006, an increase from 64.9% in 2005.
 
“The data from our members shows a continued high recycling rate for steel cans in many countries,” said Julie Renner, Chairwoman of IISI’s Committee on Packaging.
 
China recycled an estimated 1.2 million tonnes of steel cans in 2006, while in the U.S., 1.3 million tonnes of post-consumer steel cans were recovered for recycling. Japan recovered 645,730 tonnes of post-consumer food and beverage cans, and recycled a total of 720,600 tonnes of packaging steel. The 27 member countries of the European Union recycled 2.5 million tonnes in the same year.
 
“In real terms, the tonnages of steel from packaging being recycled in individual countries are also steadily increasing,” said Renner. “This is not only good news because of the high demand for scrap steel, it is also good news for the environment”.
 
Steel is completely recyclable, and can even be recycled a number of times without sacrificing quality. Steelmaking from recycled steel requires less energy than the production of steel from iron ore.