It is therefore correct to say that steel is part of the circular economy. When steel is remelted, it can become something completely different - in a completely new form, and with a completely new function.
Steel is one of the world's most important building materials, and it will continue to be a key material choice in the future. Steel has properties that are difficult to replace with other materials. It is both 100% recyclable and produced using renewable energy, making it a more sustainable material option.
Between 70 and 80 percent of all steel ever produced is actually still in use. An important reason for this is the well-functioning international trade in scrap steel and the fact that scrap-based steel mills use scrap to produce brand new steel.
Worldwide, around 630 million tons of steel are recycled every year (Bureau of International Recycling). Part of this is also steel that comes from Nordic Steel. In 2023, we sent over 500 tons of steel for recycling, 539,634 kilos of steel to be exact. This is steel that is cut from plates and beams that are left over.
- "We have a very high recycling rate and over 90 percent of all waste is recycled every year. But absolutely all steel waste is sent for recycling to become new steel," says Kjersti Sandvik Bernt, Communications and Sustainability Manager at Nordic Steel.
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Recycling steel and aluminum requires only 30 percent and 5 percent respectively of the energy used to produce new metal. The world's supply of raw materials for the production of metals is limited, so it is important to reuse resources.
It is also very important that steel waste is used in the production of new steel. Steel produced from scrap steel is a much better option for the environment because it has significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions.
In the production of new steel, CO2 emissions are reduced by 58% if scrap steel is used instead of new ore. It also reduces air pollution by 86%, water consumption by 40% and water pollution by 76% (Advocating Recycling in Europe (EuRIC)).
Recycling one ton of steel saves 1.4 tons of iron ore, 0.8 tons of coal, 0.3 tons of lime and additives, and 1.67 tons of CO2 (EuRIC).
Steel is mainly produced in two different ways today. Either with a blast furnace and oxygen converter (Blast Furnace/BF and Basic Oxygen Furnace/BOF) or with an electric arc furnace (Electric Arc Furnace/EAF). The blast furnace mainly uses ore, lime, coal and some scrap. The electric arc furnace mainly uses scrap and electricity.
If we look at the whole world, about 70 percent of all steel is produced in the traditional way, which is with ore. The last 30 percent is with scrap-based production. In Europe, the figures are slightly more even, with 52 percent ore-based and 48 percent scrap-based (Eurofer).
Steel production requires a lot of heat to melt steel, which makes it very energy-intensive, with high CO2 emissions. The steel industry accounts for approximately 7 percent of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions (OECD).
The ore-based method is the largest cause of CO2 emissions from the steel industry. If scrap production is increased, it will have a significant positive impact on total energy consumption.
The steel industry has also significantly reduced its energy consumption in recent decades. Producing one ton of steel today requires only 40 percent of the energy it took to produce steel in the 1960s. And since then, steel production has increased almost tenfold. At the same time, the use of renewable energy has also become even more important for steel production.
The steel industry is undergoing rapid development and completely fossil-free production of steel is approaching. From 2026, commercially available steel from hydrogen production is expected. It has no CO2 emissions, as long as the hydrogen is made with green power. More and more companies are working on carbon-neutral steel production. The opportunities are close, and some of them are already here.
In 2023, Nordic Steel became the first in Norway to offer the world's most sustainable stainless and acid-resistant steel to our customers. The Circle Green steel has 93 percent lower greenhouse gas emissions than the industry average.
Circular economy: In a circular economy, products must last as long as possible, be repaired, upgraded and increasingly reused. When they cannot be used again, the materials can be recycled and used as raw materials in new production. In this way, we utilize the same resources several times and as little as possible is lost.
Recycling: Recycling is a general term that describes a process in which resources, raw materials and products are in circulation and reused in a cycle. Recycling has more product stages than recovery.
Recycling: Recycling is a collective term for material recovery and energy utilization.
(Definitions taken from the Norwegian Environment Agency and Store norske leksikon).
Sources: Norsk Metallgjenvinning, Norsk Stål, World Steel Association, Stena Recycling, Norwegian Environment Agency, Bureau of International Recycling, OECD, Advocating Recycling in Europe, Eurofer, Nordic Steel
