Sustainability

Steel is unequalled as a sustainable packaging material because:

• Steel is derived from iron ore and coal, two of the earth’s most plentiful natural resources.
• All steel packaging is 100% recyclable.
• The average recycled content of steel in the EU (27) was 56% in 2006.
• Steel can be recycled infinitely without any loss of quality.
• Thanks to its magnetic properties, steel is extremely easy and cost-efficient to remove from the waste stream.
• Steel scrap is vital in the steel making process, so there is always a ready market for recycled steel.
• Using recycled steel cuts down on the use of raw materials and creates energy savings.
• Scrap steel has an economic value and is re-used by the steel industry, so generally very little finds its way to landfills.
• Steel benefits from a ‘steel to steel’ recycling process, travelling from the consumer as a can, to the waste stream, to the recycling facility, to the steel making process, to the new steel product, and back to the consumer as one of an endless variety of steel products.
• Steel is not degraded by recycling.  All recycled steel is refined so that it is every bit as good as before – it does not deteriorate.

The most recycled packaging material in Europe

Across Europe, the recycling rates for steel packaging have been increasing rapidly.  The chart below shows how they rose from 29% in 1993 to over 62% in 2004. (This refers to the original 15 Member States of the EU.)