What it means to be Green!

Knowing a material is green or sustainable means having a full picture of its life cycle, from the resources used to make it to how it is manufactured, used, and even discarded. Steel is one of the strongest materials on this planet, and is also the most recycled material on earth. A building product with over 50% recycled content is considered to be quite high. Steel is one of the few materials you can purchase that is guaranteed to be recycled.

Why Steel?

• New steel is stronger than ever. In fact, if the Sears Tower was built today, it could be erected with 35% less steel than when it went up in 1974.
• More steel is recycled in North America each year than aluminum, plastic and glass combined. In fact, steel’s overall recycling rate is about 64%.
• Recycling steel conserves our earth’s resources. For every ton of steel recycled, 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone are saved.
• The amount of energy needed to produce a ton of steel has been reduced by 34% since 1972.
• Unlike other building materials, 88% of the steel taken from commercial construction demolition sites was recycled and made into new steel products in 1998.
• More than 65 million tons of steel is recycled each year.