Basic Principle: Continuous improvement in environmental and resource management.
As an integrated steelmaker, managing the cost of raw materials — taconite, coal, limestone and energy — is essential to our success. Therefore, we are focused on maximizing the benefits we derive from materials we use in an effort to minimize our environmental impact. This management process can be summed up in three words: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Reduce: U. S. Steel is making meaningful strides in reducing our energy consumption and our greenhouse gas emissions. Energy is one of the largest costs a steelmaker encounters, making effective energy management of the variable cost of fuels in operations critical. And because greenhouse gas emissions are closely linked to energy intensity, U. S. Steel views energy management as both cost effective and environmentally responsible.

Reuse: U. S. Steel also manages environmental impact through the reuse of certain materials used or created through the steelmaking process. We reduce the amount of waste generated and emissions produced in steelmaking by reusing the by-product gasses produced in our blast furnaces and coke ovens in the place of other fuel-saving valuable energy that would otherwise be wasted. In our Mon Valley Works, U. S. Steel recycles enough coke oven gas and blast furnace gas to provide, on average, more than 40 million mmbtu of electrical power generation and thermal energy requirements. That is enough energy to power approximately 400,000 American households annually. Water used in the steelmaking process is reused in the form of steam to produce electricity. Other coke and steelmaking by-products are returned directly to the coke and steelmaking processes as raw materials, while others are used to make products such as fertilizer, commercial fuels and asphalt.

Recycle: As the world’s most recycled material, steel provides an excellent opportunity to practice environmental stewardship.

Every year, U. S. Steel recycles substantial quantities of scrap metal and other steelmaking co-products and by-products. Recycling helps preserve landfills and improves sustainability through raw material and resource management. In addition, steel can also be recycled over and over without any loss of quality in the material itself. In 2016 alone, the company recycled approximately 2.9 million tons of scrap steel. Research conducted by the American Iron and Steel Institute indicates that steel is the most highly recycled material in the world, more than all other recyclable materials combined (glass, paper, plastic and aluminum). Steel has an overall recycling rate of 86 percent, and the rate can be as high as 90 percent for appliances and 92.5 percent for automobiles. Through recycling scrap steel, the steel industry saves the same amount of energy it would take to power approximately 20 million homes for one year.

In addition to steel scrap, the steel industry recycles by-products such as mill scale, pollution control dusts and sludges, and co-products such as iron and steelmaking slags.

Blast Furnace (iron) slag and Basic Oxygen Furnace (steel) slag are highly sustainable products that are partially recycled back into the steelmaking process, as well as used in place of natural aggregates such as limestone and gravel in numerous construction and product applications. Blast furnace slag is used in cement manufacturing, asphalt mixes, glass manufacturing, precast concrete, wallboard, mineral wool, and sub base for road and interstate highway construction.

Steel slag is also recycled in applications such as landfill daily cover and internal haul roads, phosphorus removal in wastewater treatment, ground water remediation reactive barrier walls, and agricultural applications including as a liming agent and micronutrient in fertilizer. Use of iron and steel slag in place of mined and quarried rock and mineral aggregates saves these natural resources and reduces the impact to the environment. In 2016, U. S. Steel recycled approximately 2.2 million tons of blast furnace slag and 1.3 million tons of steel slag.

U. S. Steel also works with partners to recycle our used equipment. Examples include used conveyor belts being transformed into rubber mats and used tires from our mining mobile equipment becoming feed and water troughs for livestock.

Points of Interest:
Steel Recycling Information

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