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THE I SR I SCRAP YEARBOOK
2016
INSTITUTE OF SCRAP RECYCLING INDUSTRIES, INC.
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Scrap dealers and brokers sell scrap commodities to a wide
range of consumers at home and abroad such as paper mills,
plastic manufacturing plants, steel mills, foundries, copper
wire and brass mills, secondary aluminum smelters, and
other customers.
Manufacturers prize scrap as a raw material input due in part
to the cost and energy savings associated with using scrap.
For example, domestic steelmakers rely on iron and steel
scrap to make roughly two out of every three pounds of
steel produced in the U.S. Producers of copper and copper
alloy products are also heavily reliant on scrap. According
to figures from the U.S. Geological Survey, the contained
copper provided by old and new copper scrap accounted for
nearly 47 percent of total U.S. apparent copper consumption
in 2015. Metal scrap can practically be melted and re-melted
an infinite number of times to make products and parts for
everything from cell phones to automobiles, bridges, and
buildings. Manufacturers also rely on scrap commodities
to produce a wide array of nonmetallic goods including
new paper and cardboard
products, plastic containers,
playground surfaces, and
much more. And while
overseas markets have
been a growing source of
demand for U.S. scrap, it’s worth remembering that most of
the scrap that gets processed in the U.S. is also consumed
domestically.
According to ISRI estimates, in 2015 over 70 percent of the
more than 130 million metric tons of recovered paper, plastic,
rubber, metal, glass, textiles, and other scrap commodities
that were processed in the U.S. was consumed at home. As
scrap recyclers strive to meet rising consumer demands and
improve their operational, quality, environmental, health
and safety, and management systems, the use of third-party
certifications has been on the rise.
How Is Scrap Consumed?