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.
