Steel Recycling

What Products are Made with Steel?

Appliances: Sometimes referred to as “white goods”, appliances are systems of mechanical and electrical components encased in steel shells or bodies. Appliances include washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, ranges, air conditioners, refrigerators, freezers and water heaters. By weight, the typical appliance consists of about 65 percent steel. ¹

Automobiles: By weight, the typical passenger car consists of nearly 66 percent steel and iron. The steel used in car bodies is made with a minimum of 25 percent recycled steel.¹

Cans: Includes food, paint, and aerosol cans. Many times food cans are referred to as “tin cans” when in fact they are made from steel.

Construction Materials: Steel beams are a main constituent of construction materials. For information on recycling your construction materials call us at (423)667-6686.

Benefits of Recycling Steel

• Improve Your Organization’s Image: By using fewer resources and reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators, a company may enhance its customer and community image. We give lessons to help your organization save money. · Divert Material from Disposal: Keeping steel out of the waste stream saves valuable landfill space.
• Conserve Natural Resources: Every ton of steel recycled saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone.¹
• Save Energy: Each year, steel recycling saves the energy equivalent to electrically power about one-fifth of the households in the United States (or about 18 million homes) for one year.²

Steel Recycling Tips:

Depending on the steel product there are different ways to approach the recycling process:

 APPLIANCES (White Goods):

If you need to remove an old or faulty appliance then:

1. Donate a Working Appliance

If the appliance is in working condition you may want to consider donating it. By donating an appliance you may save yourself from a hauling fee and obtain a tax deduction.

The Salvation Army accepts working appliances. To locate Salvation Armies in the USA visit: www.salvationarmy-usaeast.org

AUTOMOBILES:

1. Donate Your Automobile
Various automobile donation programs are available in Massachusetts. Most programs accept vehicles regardless of condition and usually arrange the towing (they must be able to be towed). Donors can receive a tax deduction based on the value from any widely used guidebook such as the Kelley Blue Book, NADA, and Edmunds.

Some available options:

American Lung Association’s Vehicle Donation Center
www.donateyourcar.com

National Kidney Foundation: Kidney Cars Program
www.kidney.org/funds/cars.cfm

2. Recycle Your Automobile
Automobiles simply are not landfilled because about 65 percent of the weight of the average car is comprised of steel and iron-metals valuable to the steel industry. Instead, the steel and iron are recovered for either reuse in other automobiles or for recycling into new steel at a steel mill.

What many people think of as their local junkyard is actually where the recycling process for the automobile begins. Even a car in the very worst of shape may still contain some valuable working parts that can be reused in other vehicles. There are more than 12,000 auto dismantlers throughout North America reselling automobile parts.

Auto dismantlers also perform a valuable service: they prepare a vehicle for recycling by removing its battery, gas tank, refrigerant gases from the air conditioner, and all of its fluids. Once these have been removed, the hulk of the car can be flattened and delivered to a ferrous scrap dealer.
(Quoted from the Steel Recycling Institute www.recycle-steel.org/index2.html)

Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) is an international trade association dedicated to the efficient removal and reuse of automotive parts, and the safe disposal of inoperable motor vehicles.
For a list of ARA members in US go to
www.world-parts.com/ara/usstate.asp?SampleID=111554
or visit the main site at: www.autorecyc.org

CANS (STEEL):

Steel cans are found in every foodservice setting including office cafeterias, restaurants, hotels, hospitals, prisons, schools, and military bases. These cans are often referred to as “tin cans”.

1. Designate a Coordinator to Oversee the Program:

Before contacting any recycling service, it is a good idea for an organization to designate a recycling program coordinator. This person should be a liaison among management, supervisors, maintenance staff, and outside contractors. This individual will monitor the operation of the program to ensure that employees understand their role in making it work and that the commitments to and from the recycling contractor are being fulfilled.

2. Find a Steel Can Recycling Service:

3. Identify Storage Needs:

It is very important to identify adequate space where recyclables can be stored between pick-ups. It is best to discuss individual storage needs with the hauler.

4. Educate the Staff:

Educating the staff is the most important step in any recycling program. Without employee cooperation, and proper knowledge of what and how to recycle, the program will not work. This step takes effort-- to many employees it could mean developing a new habit of separating recyclables from trash.

Give employees several announcements about the program before it begins.  These announcements should indicate management support for the program and include as much information as possible about collection procedures.  Employees should receive a thorough list of contaminant material that should not be placed in the bins. If you are not sure what is considered a contaminant, contact your recycler.

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION DEBRIS:

Components of construction and demolition (C&D) debris typically include asphalt, bricks, concrete (ABC) and other masonry materials, soil, rock, wall coverings, drywall, plumbing fixtures, insulation, roofing, shingles, plate glass, metal, wood waste, carpet, and electrical wires.

Facts & Figures:

• Each new steel product is made in part from post-consumer recycled steel. So each time you buy a steel product, you're closing the recycling loop by buying recycled.
• About 630 steel cans are recycled every second.
• Steel cans can be recycled in more than 20,000 locations across the country.
• Steel cans are used to package more than 1,500 different kinds of food - everything from apples to zucchini. Steel cans are also used for paints and aerosol sprays, bandages, and shoe polish. Even oil filters are a form of a steel can.
• Steel cans contain 25% recycled content
• The average refrigerator contains 100 pounds of steel.
• There are more than 12,000 places to recycle out-of-service appliances across the country.
• Steel's magnetic attraction makes it one of the easiest materials to recycle.
• Recycling just one car saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone.
• Because of their steel and iron content virtually every car taken off the road today is recycled 
• It takes about 45 seconds to shred the average automobile into fist-sized pieces of steel for recycling.
• The automobile is the most recycled consumer product in the world today. 
• The steel found in just six cars, when recycled, is enough to build a brand new house, using steel framing.
• Using recycled steel to make new steel saves energy. In fact, the steel industry saves enough energy in one year to electrically power 18 million homes for one year.
• It takes an entire tree to make a typical wood pole; one scrapped car produces more than four steel poles.
• Steel is one of the few materials you can purchase that is guaranteed to be recycled, and it can be recycled repeatedly without loss of quality or strength.