Fact sheet

Scrap use in the steel industry

The transition to a low-carbon world requires a transformation in the way we manufacture iron and
steel. There is no single solution to CO2-free steelmaking, and a broad portfolio of technological options
is required, to be deployed alone, or in combination as local circumstances permit. This series of fact
sheets describes and explores the status of a number of key technologies and initiatives and issues.

What is scrap and why is it important? Melting steel scrap at the end of its useful life allows us to
create new steels, making adjustments to the chemistry
Scrap is a term used to describe steel that has reached the and shape of the new product. Scrap steel is separated and
end of its useful life, known as ‘post-consumer scrap’ or has sorted, and can be used to make any new steel product.
been generated during the manufacture of steel products,
known as ‘pre-consumer scrap’. Every steel plant uses scrap as part of its raw materials mix,
and therefore every steel plant is also a recycling plant.
While the term ‘scrap’ may lead one to believe this is a waste
product, it is actually a valuable raw material used in every In blast furnace (BF) steelmaking, each charge of the basic
steelmaking process. oxygen furnace, in which carbon carbon-rich pig iron is
refined into crude steel, typically contains 15%-25% scrap.
Due to its inherent magnetism, steel is very easy to separate Scrap acts as a cooling agent, absorbing excess heat from
and recycle, making steel the most recycled material in the the exothermic decarbonisation process, and also as a
world. source of iron units. In some cases, scrap is added directly
to the BF as a source of iron units, reducing greenhouse gas
emissions.

In electric steelmaking, electrical energy is used to re-melt

charges of up to 100% scrap2 to make new steel products.

What are the benefits of using scrap?

Scrap plays a key role in supressing industry emissions and

resource consumption, every tonne of scrap used for steel
production avoids the emission of 1.5 tonnes of CO2 and the
consumption of 1.4 tonnes of iron ore, 740kg of coal and 120
kg of limestone.3

How much scrap is used?

All the scrap that is available to the steel industry is used

repeatedly to create new steel. Recycled steel maintains the
inherent properties of the original steel and the quality can
How and why is scrap used? also be improved on recycling.

Steelmaking has two main metallic inputs: iron ore and Around 650 Mt per year of scrap is consumed each year
recycled steel scrap. Around 70% of the total metallic input for steel production (compared with a total crude steel
to steel production globally is derived from iron ore, with production volume of 1,869 Mt per year), with comparable
scrap making up the rest.1 amounts of scrap used in the primary and secondary
routes.4 This avoids the emission of approximately 975 Mt
 Fact sheet | Scrap use in the steel industry

of CO2 annually and significantly reduces the use of other Looking forward, the continued growth of the circular
natural resources use, such as iron ore, coal and limestone. economy may lead to further extensions in the useful life
of steel products through reuse and remanufacturing,
worldsteel estimates that the global foundry sector uses suppressing scrap availability below current expectations.
about 70 Mt of ferrous scrap each year. With a total of 720
Mt, ferrous scrap recycling constitutes the largest recycling How is scrap quality assessed?
activity in the world.
There are several regional classifications used to classify
How much scrap is available? scrap – for example, the ‘The EU-27 Steel Scrap Specification’6
developed by EFR, the European Ferrous Recovery and
In theory, all new steel could be made from recycled steel. Recycling Federation and the ISRI specifications developed
However, currently, this is not feasible due to the scarcity by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, including in
of scrap. This is because of the long service life of steel the US.7 Given the international nature of scrap trade, it
products, given steel’s strength and durability. would be preferable if stakeholders could agree on a global
classification to make best use of the expected strong
The average life of steel products ranges from a few weeks
growth in scrap availability and use.
for steel packaging to up to 100 years for buildings and
infrastructure. The average lifespan of a steel product is Could build up of tramp elements render some scrap not
40 years.5 This means there is a significant delay between usable?
steel being produced and being available for recycling.
Continued growth in steel demand means that transitioning The steelmaking process is able to remove most impurities
the industry to entirely scrap based production is unlikely to that may be present in scrap steel. Hence ‘downcycling’ of
be possible during this century. steel scrap into lower quality products is not an issue for
the steel industry in the same way it can be for glass and
Steel demand is growing at a faster rate than scrap is being aluminium.
released from the pool of ‘steel in use’. All scrap currently
collected is recycled. As such there is only limited scope to However, some elements, especially copper, cannot be
increase scrap availability. Any future increase in availability removed during the steelmaking process. Elevated copper
will be drawn from the expected increase of post-consumer levels in steel can lead to a loss of ductility and resulting
scrap availability. surface defects.8 Copper content is currently carefully
managed through a combination of sorting and dilution.

Looking forward, the broader electrification of society will

lead to a higher proportion of copper in recovered scrap,
and an increase in scrap availability and a corresponding
reduction in ore-based production will reduce the amount
of virgin metal available for dilution. Improved scrap sorting
and better separation techniques to reduce contamination
by trace metals like copper will be important to ensure all of
steel grades can be produced via the secondary route.

Applying circular economic principles to product design

(designing for remanufacture and recycling) will make
ferrous and valuable non-ferrous metals such as copper
easier to separate and recycle.

Global steel production increased significantly in the early May 2021 | AP/BC
years of the 21st century, largely driven by growth in China.
End of life steel scrap is expected to increase from the mid- 1
Iron and Steel Technology Roadmap, IEA, 2020
2020s as this material starts to reach the end of its life. 2
worldsteel LCI database
3
https://www.worldsteel.org/en/dam/jcr:ab8be93e-1d2f-4215-9143-4eba6808bf03/
While iron ore supply can flex with demand, the availability steelfacts_vfinal.pdf Page 41
of scrap is mostly fixed, a function of steel demand 4
worldsteel data
and arising of scrap at the end of life of steel products, 5
https://steelfacts.worldsteel.org/assets/facts/WST-Section-218.jpg
equipment and facilities. worldsteel estimates suggest that 6
https://www.euric-aisbl.eu/facts-figures/standards-specifications
global end-of-life ferrous scrap availability stood at about 7
http://www.scrap2.org/specs/1/#zoom=z
400 Mt in 2019. We expect that global end-of-life scrap 8
Copper and tin in steel scrap recycling, L Savov, E Volkova, D Janke , 2003
availability will reach about 600 Mt in 2030 and 900 Mt in
2050, a growth of more than 500 Mt in one of our main
steelmaking raw materials in the next 30 years.