European Union recycles 60% of steel packaging

New data also suggests that the 15 pre-enlargement EU countries achieved a recycling rate for steel packaging of 62.5% – up from the 61% they achieved in 2003.

” As steel scrap is an essential ingredient in steel manufacturing, there is always ample demand for recycled steel.“
– Philippe Wolper, APEAL
APEAL said that over 2.2 million tonnes of post-consumer steel packaging was recycled in Europe last year. It singled out “remarkable progress” made by the UK, Spain, Portugal and Italy. The UK has achieved a 41% increase in steel packaging recycling over the last five years.

In Central and Eastern Europe, according to the level of collection infrastructure in place, recycling performances of Green Dot systems ranged from 11% (metals) in Lithuania to 43% (steel) in Hungary.

The best progression in metal packaging recycling was registered in the Czech Republic (37% vs. 29% the year before).

Value
APEAL said these exceptionally high recycling rates showed that steel packaging “offers value to society”, enabling a continual recycling process to take place without any loss of quality. The strong recycling performance results from the adaptability of steel to a wide range of collection systems, from mixed household waste to multi-material door-to-door collection systems, APEAL said.

Philippe Wolper, managing director of APEAL, said: “As steel scrap is an essential ingredient in steel manufacturing, there is always ample demand for recycled steel. Furthermore, since steel packaging is economical to collect and easy to separate (thanks to its magnetic properties), it is no surprise that steel consolidates its position year by year as leader in packaging recycling in Europe.”

Through increased recycling of steel packaging, resources such as iron ore and coal are preserved for future generations and energy use is vastly reduced, the organisation said.

Over the last 10 years, it said more than 16 million tonnes of steel packaging have been recycled, saving 40 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions – saving the equivalent emissions of 22 million cars each travelling an average of 10,000 km.