Stainless Steel Me

Stainless steel is designed to last a long time so this in itself reduces the need the requirement for alternatives that are costly to the environment because of their short life cycle. More often stainless steel is replaced a long time before it’s needed to be replaced because of cosmetic reasons – new retail fashions, architectural changes or refurbishments. Fortunately stainless steel is 100% recyclable and still contains the high value of the initial alloying elements such as chromium, nickel and molybdenum. Generally the biggest use for stainless steel is to make more stainless steel, confused? Well when stainless steel is manufactured the elements to make the steel are heated up to a very high temperature to produce the molten mixture that eventually becomes the finished raw product. This molten mixture is generally made up of up to 70% recycled stainless. So old sinks, dented exhausts, pans without handles they are all thrown in to the mix.

This ease of recycling make stainless steel one of the most sustainable metal products we use daily. They make a huge contribution to the reduction of Co2 emissions. In Europe alone recycling raw material including stainless steel reduces Co2 emissions by over 200 million tonnes per annum.

Lastly one of the other important reasons for recycling stainless steel is its value, in everyday life we see catering equipment made of stainless steel for hygiene reasons or exhausts systems for their shiny exterior. We often forget that because of the expensive elements that go into stainless steel it is itself very costly, thankfully it retains this value even when in its scrap form. This makes the desire to retain material and recycle even more important.

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