Steel recycling in U.S. continues record pace

The Steel Recycling Institute (SRI) announced today that the recycling rate for the world's and the U.S.'s most recycled material—steel—increased to 75.7 percent in the U.S. in 2005. This reflects a five percentage point increase in the recycling rate and the highest rate ever recorded in the U. S. Seventy-six million tons of domestic steel scrap was charged into furnaces, both in the U. S. and abroad, to make new steel products.

"2005 continues the four-year expansion of steel recycling to new historic levels in the U. S. and the 75.7 percent rate established a new record for steel recycling," said Bill Heenan, president of the Steel Recycling Institute. "It is important to point out that the number one raw material consumed by the steel industry is steel scrap."