Steel appliances help families communicate

Steel, most frequently connected with the safety it provides in the family car, also has endeared itself to parents because of its significant role in family communications, according to a survey conducted on behalf of the steel industry.

With today's hectic lifestyles in which parents and children daily operate on several different schedules, steel appliances—with a magnetic quality that makes them a natural for all types of message-postings—have become a lynchpin in household communications. Research reveals that six out of ten families with children use their kitchen appliance as a convenient communications center, and 75 percent of single parents indicate they leave notes for their children on their appliances.

Types of communications range from posting emergency numbers (52 percent) to leaving notes for spouses and children (34 percent) to personal reminders (44 percent). Other popular refrigerator postings include family photos (52 percent), shopping lists (40 percent), household bills (14 percent), New Year's resolutions (4 percent), calendars/schedules (3 percent0, and Bible verses or other inspirational messages (1 percent).

"We thought it was an interesting trend to track," said Bill Heenan, president of the Steel Recycling Institute (SRI). Heenan pointed out that steel's magnetic qualities not only make it a natural for posting family communications, but it's also the reason steel is the most recycled material in the world. "Steel is plucked easily by giant magnets from scrap yards and moved to be recycled into new cars, buildings, or appliances," he said.

The survey also showed that women are heavier users of "appliance communication" with nearly one third saying the use it every day or frequently. Older women (55 plus) are the heaviest users.

The survey also found that Democrats are more than twice as likely as Republicans to use their appliances to communicate on a daily basis (21 percent for Democrats versus 10 percent for Republicans.

Heenan also noted that many people still are not aware that steel is the most recycled material on the planet—more than aluminum, paper, and glass combined. The recycling rate for appliances is 90 percent; cars, 100 percent; and cans, 60 percent.