Metal is an essential part of our living, although we never really think of it as doing so. Metal makes our buildings, our cars, our phones, even our major appliances have some form of metal in them! But what happens when one of these things doesn’t have much use to us anymore? Believe it or not, metal is a recyclable material, but the question is, where exactly can these recycled metals be found?
Overall, 59.8% of metal is recycled, and these metals can be categorized as ferrous, nonferrous, and aluminum, but for now, let’s focus on ferrous metals. Ferrous metals include mainly iron and steel and can be found in most construction-grade material, as well as in most transportation parts. In 2018, 19.2 tons of ferrous metals were created, and the majority that was recycled came from everyday appliances, furniture, and tires, accounting for 27.8% of recycled material. One of the most common items, steel cans, accounts for 70.9% of the recycling rate, which is less than the EU’s steel packaging recycling rate, coming at 82.5%. In the EU, sustainability is a big talking point, with the European Commission having its rules on foreign affairs based on sustainability. With a set of countries that are almost (if not already) equally developed to ours, it’s not a surprise that the EU would band together to help maintain a sustainable living by promoting recycling, specifically steel.
By recycling ferrous metals, we save 75% of the energy needed to create the products from virgin material. Aside from keeping metals away from landfills, recycling can have many other benefits. Economically, metal recycling can help create new jobs in an industry that is unexpected. For example, scrap metal has built into its own unique industry involved in selling and purchasing scraps to other companies. This has been able to create 450,000 jobs, and the number is only expected to grow as we use more metal for our cars and appliances. A lot of money is also made from trading scrap metal with other countries, amassing to $14.5 billion from scraps and even remade products!
Because the recycling rate of metal is so high, it is easier for us to benefit from re-made items, especially since metals like steel have a 100% recyclable rate and can be recycled an infinite amount of times. When it comes to other sectors in recycling, the rate is higher than most, and I believe it stems from how useful we deem metals to be. Because we rely on metal so often, it’s important to know how to recycle this resource and put it to other uses, given that it is nonrenewable. I think it’s important in other sectors to find better uses for products after they are recycled since without finding a proper use that can be sustainable in the long run, people will end up feeling less inclined to recycle them. Terms of what can and cannot be recycled, mainly in the plastics sector, should be specified more. But in truth, until we can find a way to be able to recycle other products as efficiently and to prolong their recyclability, it may be hard to have a solution to the increased items found in landfills instead of new products.
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Ferrous Metals Waste Management: 1960-2018. (n.d.). [Graph]. Environmental Protection Agency. https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/ferrous-metals-material-specific-data
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