Global steelmaker SSAB’s North American Division, SSAB Americas, has launched EcoSmart sustainable steel made from 97% recycled materials diverted from landfills.
The product, claims SSAB Americas, is made from discarded appliances and old car parts and is described as ‘planet friendly’. It is produced using a planet-friendly process, says the company.
Chuck Schmitt, president of SSAB Americas, commented: “With steel playing such a vital role in our daily lives, our vision at SSAB is to create a stronger, lighter and more sustainable world,” he said, adding that the company has a responsibility ‘not only to operate with integrity, but to be good stewards for our environment’.
According to Schmitt, “For SSAB Americas, sustainability isn’t something new; it’s built in to who we are and how we operate.”
EcoSmart steel is made in the US with the least possible environmental impact. Aside from using recycled metals, SSAB Americas also uses more than 600,000 recovered scrap tires a year as a raw material substitute for carbon in the production process – more than five million scrap tires to date. SSAB Americas also recycles millions of gallons of water each year, diverts nearly a million pounds of trash from landfills every year thanks to its trash recycling process, and utilizes renewable electrical energy in its manufacturing process, particularly wind energy. The company’s electric arc furnace-based production process in the US also results in 66 percent fewer CO2 emissions compared to the 2014 US steel industry average.
Schmitt said that EcoSmart is a strong, long-lasting and high quality product that helps to reduce environmental impacts. “We’ve won numerous awards for our work in sustainability and have woven these ideals into our steelmaking process for decades.”