The impact of recycling steel

Why it matters

The steel industry generates between 7% and 9% of global CO₂ emissions¹. Almost all of that CO₂ comes from turning ore into iron with coal. Scrap is already metallic iron: melting it skips that step.

CO₂ per tonne of steel, by route

• 2.34 tof CO₂ per tonne of steel in blast furnace and converter (2024) ²
• 1.47 tof CO₂ per tonne with direct reduced iron and electric furnace (2024) ²
• 0.69 tof CO₂ per tonne with scrap in an electric furnace (2024) ²
• 1.92 tof CO₂ per tonne, world average for 2024 ²

These are averages of the worldsteel CO₂ indicator, which covers direct emissions, purchased electricity and part of the supply chain². The scrap route comes in at less than a third of the ore route.

What recycling already avoids worldwide

In 2022 the industry recycled between 650 and 700 million tonnes of scrap and, according to worldsteel, saved about 1,000 million tonnes of CO₂ that would have been emitted making that steel from ore¹. The Bureau of International Recycling reports that world use of recycled steel reached 630 million tonnes in 2025³. The two figures measure different scopes and are not added together.

Raw materials that stay underground

Per tonne of crude steel, the electric furnace uses on average 710 kg of scrap and 586 kg of iron ore; the blast furnace uses 125 kg of scrap and 1,370 kg of ore, plus 780 kg of coal and 270 kg of limestone¹. More scrap in the furnace means less mining, less coal and less ore shipping.

Energy

The WARM model of the US Environmental Protection Agency estimates, for steel cans, 31.58 million BTU of process energy per short ton from virgin inputs against 11.78 million from recycled inputs, excluding transport⁴. A short ton is 907 kg. It is a specific case, not an average for all steel.

The same model credits recycling steel cans with a net reduction of 1.83 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per short ton, against 0.02 of net emissions if they go to landfill⁴.

Water

Mexico's potential

Mexico already makes 95.9% of its steel in electric furnaces⁵. That means the country competes for clean, well graded scrap: every tonne that sits in a yard, gets mixed with waste or is exported ungraded is raw material a Mexican mill has to replace with imported scrap or with direct reduced iron, which emits more².

• Recover more. Industrial process scrap (stamping, machining, structures) is the cleanest and is often sold poorly or lost in mixed loads.
• Grade better. Separating stainless, turnings and heavy scrap, and removing copper and non metallics, lets mills use more scrap and less direct reduced iron.
• Document it. With real weights, CFDI and Carta Porte, every tonne can count in the sustainability report of whoever generated it. See how we calculate it.

Every lot that goes through Bluegreen ends in a certificate with a folio anyone can verify. See what each report includes.