Bell: Ample recycled steel available for the sustainable steel transition

Research made public last year by the Steel Manufacturers Association showed that there is sufficient supply of ferrous scrap to support the transition away from extractive steelmaking and toward a cleaner, greener, lower-emissions future for the global steel industry.

Compared with making steel in blast furnaces and basic oxygen furnaces, making steel out of ferrous scrap in an electric arc furnace emits an estimated 78% less carbon per ton of steel. The carbon advantage of EAFs is one reason that steel producers in Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union and elsewhere are replacing BF/BOFs with EAFs. In the United States, SMA members are investing nearly $20 billion in EAF capacity expansion and improvements in next five years.