Steel Recycling Equipment, A History Of Recycling


Steel has been recycled more than almost any other material. Steel recycling equipment has been used in the steel industry for the reuse of at least 50% steel recycled in the past 50 years. Everyday people use steel, though many may not be aware that the metal they use each day has been recycled, often more than just a few times!

Steel recycling equipment has been used by steel manufacturers and steel recyclers for years. Because of the ease and availability of steel to recycle, steel recycling equipment is readily purchased. Companies are able to list used equipment, such as conveyors, shredders, pickers, and other sorting machines. Many machines have been utilized by other recycling plants because of the advanced systems made possible by steel recycling.


Steel recycling equipment makes the steel that you use everyday. Annually, millions of tons of steel are recycled. This is where all new steel comes from! The cans in your pantry, your car, ovens, refrigerators, and more metal items are all reused steel that may have been in your home before. Steel has infinite recycling capacity and is known by some as the 'environmetal'. Steel recycling equipment used in steel recycling plants have become so efficient that emissions affecting the air and water systems have been reduced by 90% in the past ten years.

The use of steel recycling equipment is the most widely distributed of all recycling equipments in the world. Most steel recycling equipment is located in North America, even though the entire world recycles steel. The consumption of steel in North America exceeds that of other areas due to the high demand for cars, cans, and luxury metal items.

Steel recycling equipment is an investment in a sustainable future of metal. In the past, one hundred and forty pounds of steel were needed to remake one hundred pounds. Today that number has dropped to one hundred and fourteen pounds. This means that better handling and more efficient means has increased the efficiency of recycling. Waste material from the melting of steel is about six hundred pounds per ton of steel. At one time this slag was wasted, now it is collected and used in other applications, extending the reach of recycling.