EPA and EAF recyclers

摘要

THE ELECTRIC-ARC-FURNACE (EAF) industry is the largest recycling industry in the United States. Scrap metal from junked cars, appliances, and construction debris is recovered, processed, and recycled into new steel. The EAF process requires less energy and fewer virgin resources and produces lower emissions of hazardous air pollutants, greenhouse gases, and water pollutants than to other forms of steel production.Much of the steel that is recycled has been galvanized. The EAF process separates the zinc and other constituents in the coatings from the scrap and concentrates them in the EAF dust. This facilitates the recovery of zinc as well as the production of new steel.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 North American EAF steelmakers consumed 67 million tons of steel scrap in 1999, which is an average recycling rate of 64 percent. Steel is recycled by a magnitude of five times more than the sum of all the other metals combined (aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, chromium, and zinc). The recycling of steel scrap reduces the burden on landfill disposal facilities and requires far less energy than the production of steel from virgin iron ore.