Metals

While it takes a lot of energy to make steel, it is very long-lasting – a house with steel walls could be expected to last a couple of hundred years. And it can be easily recycled or reused and is lightweight, making it cheaper to transport. Currently, about 60 per cent of steel used in Australia is recycled. These features make steel a potentially eco-friendly option.

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Steel is a hard metal made from iron that is strengthened with a small amount of carbon.

Steel is the most widely recycled material in Australia, since it is cheaper to recycle steel than to mine iron ore to produce 'new steel'.

Steel is 100% recyclable and maintain all its original properties.

Energy save by recycling reduces the industry annual energy consumption by 75%.

Approx 65% of steel scrap is currently recycled in Australia; with the remain being uneconomical to recover.

The source of scrap for recycling are:
- Vehicles - 25%
- Home and Industrial scrap - 14%
- Consumer durables - 22%
- Industrial machinery - 11%
- Buildings and Industrial plants - 18%
- Cans - 5%
- Rails - 5%

The extent of utilisation of recycled steel depends on product specifications, costs of collection and technical limitations.

Structural steel beams and plates are 97% recycled, whereas only about 30-50% of tin-plated steel cans are recycled.

Some Australian steel mills rely entirely on scrap steel for their production, but increasing demand means some amount of 'new' steel must still be derived from iron ore.

Improving the rate of household steel cans recycling is a significant savings opportunity since every 15000 cans will produce one tonne of recycled steel!

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Aluminium has been recycled since the days it was first commercially produced and today recycled aluminium accounts for one-third of global aluminium consumption world-wide. Recycling is an essential part of the aluminium industry and makes sense economically, technically and ecologically. At the end of their useful life, all aluminium products retain some worth which guarantees that it is possible to create value by recycling them into new products. Efficiency of aluminium recycling thus translates into high recycling rates for the various applications.

Recycling aluminium saves a significant amount of energy. Producing 20 cans from recycled materials uses the same power as making one can from raw materials.

Once an aluminium can is recycled, it's back on the grocery shelf as another aluminium can in 60 days.

New and Old Scrap

Aluminium destined for recycling can be described with two categories: new and old scrap.

New scrap is the surplus material that is discarded during the manufacturing and fabrication of aluminium alloys (e.g. the splinters of sheet edge trimmings).

Most new scrap reaching the secondary industry comes directly from the manufacturing industry. It is usually of known quality and composition and often uncoated. It can therefore be melted down with little preparation. 100 % of the arising fabrication scrap is remelted by the aluminium industry.

Old scrap is aluminium material that is recovered when an aluminium article has been produced, used and finally discarded at the end of its useful life. Such scrap could be e.g. used beverage cans, car cylinder heads, window frames from a demolished building or signage (!).

Old scrap comes to the recyclers via a very efficient network of metal merchants who have the technology to recover aluminium from motor vehicles, household appliances, etc. This is often done using heavy equipment such as shredders, normally together with magnetic separators to remove iron, and sink-and-float installations to separate the aluminium from other materials.

Both types of scrap are processed prior to melting to get rid off any contamination that may be present. They are centrifuged and dried to remove the oil and water that may be present and then magnetically separated from any present iron. Used beverage cans are processed to remove the interior lacquer coating and the outside product display printing inks.

Aluminium can be recycled indefinitely without loss of quality.

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Southern Cross Metal Recyclers are a scrap metal recycling centre and scrap metal transfer facility that offers a wide range of scrap metal recycling resources within this industry to commercial, domestic and other customers interested in recycling and recycling programs. This includes competitive scrap metal recycling prices for all precious metals.

Southern Cross Metal Recyclers is a member of the Australian Metal Recycling Industries Association (Vic).

This membership ensures that this company performs and conducts itself within the guidelines of the association.



SOUTHERN CROSS METAL RECYCLERS
120 Maddox Rd. Williamstown, VIC 3016
Tel: (03) 9397-4358
Email: robuck@bigpond.com

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