Scrap, recycling, and steel production: A general perspective and Turkey's standpoint

For the worldwide steel production of 725 Mt in 1993, 503 Mt of hot metal, 24 Mt of sponge iron, and about 400 Mt of scrap were used. Today, the share of electric arc furnaces in this steel production is about 30%, meaning that every third ton of the steel produced worldwide is made by recycled scrap. This percentage is even higher in Turkey where two-thirds of the steel produced is manufactured from scrap. Although no major increase in steel production is anticipated in the near future, any that does occur will be via electric arc furnaces, which will increase the demand for scrap. In the future, a decrease in the amount of circulating scrap and a slight increase in process scrap are expected; thus, the increased demand for scrap will be balanced mostly by the capital scrap. These developments might cause a drop in the quality of scrap. Many problems have to be solved in the future with scrap processing and recycling. This must be achieved by cooperation between the steel producing, steel processing, and scrap processing industries.