https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Events
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • Magazine
    • Back
    • Digital Editions
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • Advertise
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Events
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • Magazine
    • Back
    • Digital Editions
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • Subscribe to GovPro
    • Manage GovPro Subscription
    • Advertise
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
acc.com

Smart Cities & Technology


Scrap Metal Recycling—Making Change

Scrap Metal Recycling—Making Change

Scrap Metal RecyclingMaking Change By Marisa Miller Hegyesi According to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), in the United States last
  • Written by American City & County Administrator
  • 29th November 2005

Scrap Metal RecyclingMaking Change

By Marisa Miller Hegyesi

According to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), in the United States last year alone, scrap recyclers handled more than 125 million tons of recyclables destined for domestic use and overseas markets. This tonnage included approximately:

68 million tons of scrap iron & steel

4.3 million tons of scrap aluminum

2 million tons of scrap copper

1.4 million tons of stainless steel scrap

1.3 million tons of scrap lead

214,000 tons of zinc

What effect does scrap metal recycling have on our environment? The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified seven major benefits when recycled metals are used instead of virgin material (iron ore and coal) in making new steel:

105% reduction in consumer wastes generated

97% reduction in mining wastes

90% savings in virgin material use

86% reduction in air pollution

76% reduction in water pollution

74% savings in energy

40% reduction in water use

What would our world look like without scrap metal recycling? Our yards and landfills would be overflowing. Millions of automobiles, appliances, and other obsolete items are recycled every year. According to ISRI, recycled metals save the United States more than $2 billion per year in solid waste costs and has extended the lives of landfills in the U.S. by more than 140% (four years) during the last decade. Furthermore, the amount of metal recycled annually equals approximately one-third of the amount of all municipal solid waste (MSW) land-filled in the U.S. every year.

Scrap metal recycling has been around since ancient times. Today, scrap recycling has become a multi-billion dollar worldwide business. Where does scrap metal come from? It comes from individuals, machine shops, manufacturers, government entities, and other industries. Scrap metal is composed of items such as aluminum cans, used pipe, sheet metal buildings, automobiles, appliances, computer components, pots, pans, lawn furniture, bicycles, obsolete equipment, copper wire, old structural steel building frames, tin cans, etc.

These recycled metals are used to make new steel products such as automobiles, structural steel, aluminum siding, and toys. According to the June 1993 issue of School and College Magazine, over 5400 BTU’s of energy are conserved for every pound of steel recycled. Every time a ton of steel is recycled, 2500 pounds of iron ore, 1000 pounds of coal and 40 pounds of limestone are preserved.

What is being done to further promote scrap metal recycling? The Institute of Scrap Metal Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI) is an industry trade association representing 1,300 companies that process, broker, and industrially consume scrap commodities. ISRIs primary objective is to promote greater awareness of the industry’s role in conserving the future through recycling. ISRIs program, Design for Recycling works with manufacturers to ensure that consumer products can be safely and economically recycled using existing recycling methods and technology. The program also works to reduce the environmental risks from consumer products, and when appropriate provides assistance to manufacturers who are required to alter the product designs or manufacturing processes to ensure that the products can be recycled safely and efficiently. ISRI also has teaching aids for children that illustrate different recycling processes.

The Steel Recycling Institute (SRI), a unit of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), promotes, educates and sustains the recycling of all steel products. SRIs Steel Cycles program (Pre-K through 12), is aimed at providing educators and community leaders with educational tools to teach young people about sensible solid waste management.

Recycling is also being included as part of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. Based on well-founded scientific standards, LEED is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. The LEED Materials & Resources Credit 4: Recycled Content intends to increase demand for building products that incorporate recycled content materials, therefore reducing impacts resulting from extraction and processing of new virgin materials. Recycling scrap metal during new construction is one opportunity that will help to meet Credit 4 and achieve a point toward being a LEED certified building.

On a global level, scrap metal recycling conserves the worlds natural resources and improves the environment for future generations.

WEB LINKS:

Commercial Metals Company:
http://www.commercialmetals.com

U. S. EPA:
http://www.epa.gov

Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries:
http://www.isri.org

The American Iron and Steel Institute:
http://www.steel.org

Steel Recycling Institute:
http://www.recycle-steel.org/aboutus.html

U. S. Green Building Council:
http://www.usgbc.org

Tags: ar mag Smart Cities & Technology

Related


  • A video surveillance camera and sign warning about CCTV being in operation
    All activities monitored: The 10 most surveilled major cities in the U.S.
    Public close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, or public video surveillance camera, hold multiple benefits for cities. They can help reduce crimes around public areas, buildings and roads, and with the increasing deployment of smart sensors and 5G, these cameras will be able to utilize the Internet of Things (IoT) to accomplish much more in the future. […]
  • A street in Denver
    Denver anticipates autonomous vehicles with cross-agency, cross-sector collaborative planning
    Without early planning by regulators, autonomous vehicles (AVs) have the potential to fail on their promises of safer and more convenient travel. Before and even during the pandemic, which has understandably shifted priorities of local and state officials, leaders in AV policy development are nonetheless thinking about and producing plans to deal with hundreds of […]
  • Revenue and zoning evolution prepares Seattle for an autonomous vehicle future
    Although autonomous vehicles (AVs) are not fully ready for deployment, history provides strong incentive to begin planning for its implementation now. In the early 20th century, the growth of the automobile erupted faster than regulators could have imagined with far-reaching consequences. Although cars eventually helped fulfill promises of economic growth, middle-class jobs, and on-demand mobility, […]
  • A street in Los Angeles
    Los Angeles infrastructure inventory anticipates future autonomous vehicle policy
    With respect to autonomous vehicles (AVs), city and state regulators are eventually going to confront hundreds of interrelated policy and economic issues in order to adequately prepare their roads and populations for safe, fair, and effective use. During the pandemic, city budgets have become strained, and regulators understandably have important and pressing financial burdens such […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Report: Ransomware attacks cost local and state governments over $18 billion in 2020
  • Tennessee county allows autonomous shuttle to operate on public road
  • Why Tucson is building its own 4G network
  • Key steps governments can take to guard against malware attacks

White papers


Records Management Rapid Response Checklist

16th April 2021

Overcoming 5 Common Challenges Facing Facility Managers

16th April 2021

How-to Tips to Prepare for Your Summer Construction Projects

5th April 2021
view all

Events


PODCAST


Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina

13th October 2020

Young Leaders Episode 3 – Shannon Hardin – City Council President, Columbus, Ohio

27th July 2020

Young Leaders Episode 2 – Christian Williams – Development Services Planner, Goodyear, Ariz.

1st July 2020
view all

Twitter


AmerCityCounty

EPIC announces incentive program to help small municipalities replace lead pipes dlvr.it/RxqtsL

16th April 2021
AmerCityCounty

Clearing a path to multicloud as the new foundation for digital government dlvr.it/Rxqcgp

16th April 2021
AmerCityCounty

Records Management Rapid Response Checklist dlvr.it/RxqR8L

16th April 2021
AmerCityCounty

Overcoming 5 Common Challenges Facing Facility Managers dlvr.it/RxphXL

16th April 2021
AmerCityCounty

Bridging the digital divide: Three questions community leaders should consider dlvr.it/Rxlth0

15th April 2021
AmerCityCounty

Procurement department puts post-pandemic work plan in place to ensure continued productivity dlvr.it/RxgxjN

14th April 2021
AmerCityCounty

Georgia city moves to automated trash collection dlvr.it/RxX5Rl

12th April 2021
AmerCityCounty

The Community Game Changer: Library Outsourcing dlvr.it/RxLd6r

9th April 2021

Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X