Overview

Waste Minimisation

Virtually no steel is sent to landfill as waste. Steel has a value at all stages of the process, whether it is in use as a construction product, or being re-used or recycled.

Economic

Creating waste costs money and landfill taxes are high

Social

Less material taken to site and removed to tip means fewer transport movements and reduced disruption

Environmental

Burying or burning waste causes ecological harm

Steel is a store of value, too precious to waste

Almost no waste is generated during the manufacture of steel components, and all of this is recovered and recycled. On construction sites, which generate large volumes of waste, it is thanks to off-site fabrication that no steel is wasted, as only what is needed ever comes to site.

When steel is fabricated for construction uses and brought to site for erection, there is virtually no waste at all. Any waste generated in the fabrication shop is recovered for re-use or recycling.

Optimising the use of natural resources is a key goal for Corus as part of our Corporate Responsibility policy. This governs everything that Corus does and targets have been adopted covering health and safety, environmental, social and ethical issues.

All of these areas are covered by established management systems and the company reports on performance against the targets each year. As a result, Corus has highly visible strategies aimed at ensuring that waste is minimized throughout its supply chain.

Little waste arises in the iron and steel making processes. Iron and steel making generates co-products that are valued for use as raw materials by the construction industry. For example, blast furnace slag produced during the production of iron, is used as roadstone. It can also be ground down for use as a cement replacement.

The manufacturing process generates gases that are recycled within our steelworks. The majority of the gases are re-used at our on-site power stations which provide 40 per cent of the total electricity used.