Recycling
An unrivalled sustainability strength of steel is its ability to be repeatedly re-used or recycled without any degradation in the quality of the material. Other materials are often recycled only once before downgrading, which means that, they eventually find their way to landfill.
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| Economic | Steel’s inherent value underpins the continuous cycle of recovery and re-use |
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| Social | Recycling of steel crosses sector boundaries and touches every aspect of peoples lives |
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| Environmental | Recycling saves the planet’s resources and reduces energy inputs |
Steel never loses its value and it enjoys a sustainable economic life cycle that is unrivalled by any other construction material. All used steel has a value, whether it is being re-used or recycled.
Steel is unique among construction materials in the amount that is recycled and re-used. Current recovery rates in the UK are 99 per cent for structural steelwork and 94 per cent for all steel construction products. These values will only improve.
Globally, recycled material comprises 40 per cent of steel manufacture. Almost 500 million tonnes of steel is recycled each year, the equivalent of 180 Eiffel Towers every day.
This outstanding recycling performance was achieved before sustainability became an issue. There was never any need to legislate for it as steel has an intrinsic value as a scrap material and is always in demand for the production of new steel.
There is no degradation in the material when steel is recycled – it is of the highest quality when it first comes out of a steelworks and maintains that quality always. The component nature of steel frames means that their re-use is straightforward. Steel piles are easily extracted and can be re-used or recycled – piles extracted from a development in London recently were found to be in good condition after 100 years in the ground.
End of life
How many designers consider what will happen to their buildings when they have to be demolished?
