I refer to the article on recycled content (31 March, page 71). While applauding initiatives to improve resource efficiency within construction, the steel construction sector has concerns that the "single issue" focus of setting minimum recycled content targets has the potential to throw up spurious decisions that may in fact be far from sustainable.

With reference to the case study presented within the article, I would like to illustrate this with reference to the steel products considered under internal finishes.

About 1 million tonnes of thin or flat steel products are consumed annually by the UK construction sector. The versatility of thin steels is illustrated by the range of products manufactured from them including roofing, cladding and decking profiles, studs and, as in this article, suspended ceilings and raised floors.

Being typically less than 1 mm thick, these products are structurally and hence highly resource efficient, are manufactured off site, generate little waste (which is 100% recycled) and are durable; furthermore the material is almost entirely recycled at end-of-life into new steel products, such as beams and rebars.

Thin steels have a relatively low recycled content (typically 15%) since they are principally produced from primary iron ore to yield the necessary purity to enable the steel to be rolled thinly. This does not mean that such products cannot be produced from recycled steel, only that it is technically and economically more viable to use scrap to produce other steel products.

Because of its high economic value and the ease with which steel can be efficiently recycled, scrap steel has always been valued, recovered and recycled. It is estimated that 94% of steel construction products are either re-used or recycled in the UK. To be more sustainable therefore, construction specifiers should consider the recyclability of materials and products rather than focus on their recycled content.

Professor Roger Plank, chairman, steel construction sector sustainability committee

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