• About 630 steel cans are recycled every second!

  • Steel cans can be recycled in more than 20,000 locations across the country.

  • Steel cans are used to package more than 1500 different kinds of food - everything from apples to zucchini. Steel cans are also used for paints and aerosol sprays, bandages, and shoe polish. Even oil filters are a form of a steel can.

  • Stack the nearly 19 billion steel cans recycled in 1996 end to end, and you would have a line stretching from here to the moon and back more than three times (based on a can height of 5 inches).

  • Steel cans contain 25% recycled content and are completely recyclable.


  • More than 46 million appliances - including old stoves, refrigerators, washers and dryers - were recycled in 1997.

  • The amount of steel recycled from appliances in 1997 would equal the amount needed to build 88 new baseball stadiums the size of the new BancOne Field in Phoenix, AZ.

  • The steel weight of the average refrigerator is 100 pounds; the average weight of a 10 year old is 75 pounds.

  • There are more than 12,000 places to recycle out-of-service appliances across the country.

  • Because of steel, you can display your latest artwork on the door of the refrigerator. Steel's magnetic attraction also makes it one of the easiest materials to recycle.


  • The number of cars recycled in 1997 alone - nearly 13 million - would cause a traffic jam circling the Earth more than one and three quarter times.

  • Recycling just one car saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone.

  • Virtually every car taken off the road today is recycled - thanks to the steel and iron content!

  • It takes about 45 seconds to shred the average automobile into fist-sized pieces of steel for recycling.

  • The automobile is the most recycled consumer product in the world today.


  • The steel found in just six cars, when recycled, is enough to build a brand new house, using steel framing of course!

  • Using steel framing to build a house means less waste! In fact, the amount of waste generated at a steel housing construction site would fit into a regular garbage can. And, more importantly, that waste can be recycled!

  • What's at the heart of today's biggest skyscrapers? Steel, of course. For example, the Sears Tower in Chicago, North America's tallest building, was built with 74,000 tons of steel!


  • Using recycled steel to make new steel saves energy. In fact, the steel industry saves enough energy in one year to electrically power 18 million homes for one year.

  • You can't make new steel without recycled steel.

  • The recycling process isn't finished until you buy new products made from recycled content. With steel, you are guaranteed that all new products contain recycled steel - everything from the can of Spaghetti-O's® you had for lunch to the new addition on your house to your new bike.

  • The Steel Recycling Institute is a not-for-profit trade association dedicated to promoting and sustaining steel as North America's #1 Recycled Material. Our newly revamped web site (www.recycle-steel.org) features information on the recycling of steel cans, cars, appliances and C & D material, as well as the environmental benefits of steel as a sustainable construction material.

    For more information on recycling visit the
    Steel Recycling Web Site.

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