Recycled Content
Recycled content of products manufactured by BlueScope in Australia
At Port Kembla Steelworks, NSW, BlueScope uses the blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) steelmaking method to manufacture flat steel products.
Across the range of steel products manufactured at Port Kembla Steelworks, the average recycled content in the steel is approximately 24%, which includes both pre-consumer1 and post-consumer2 recycled materials. The figures provided are based on FY26 data.
In addition, 2% of the steel is produced using internal scrap recovered and returned to the steelmaking process.3
Together, this means that approximately 26% of the material used in steelmaking comes from scrap sources.
To request a formal letter on the average recycled content of our products, reported in line with ISO 14021:2016 definitions, please contact BlueScope Steel Direct.
To understand more about the role of scrap steel in steelmaking, including in different steelmaking technologies, visit How Steel is Made.
Embodied carbon and scrap steel content
Despite being one of the most recycled materials in the world, there is not enough steel scrap available to meet the growing global demand for steel.4
Scrap steel is known as ‘resource-constrained material’ i.e.
- supply volume is limited
- supply is less than the current demand
- supply does not readily increase in response to further increases in demand.
If larger amounts of a constrained material, such as scrap steel, are used on one project, there is less of that material available for other projects. This means that using steel products with higher levels of recycled content on specific projects does not result in a net reduction in global emissions – merely a shift in who claims the benefit..
If larger amounts of a constrained material, such as scrap steel, are used on one project, there is less of that material available for other projects. This means that using steel products with higher levels of recycled content on specific projects does not result in a net reduction in global emissions – merely a shift in who claims the benefit.
“Steel with a high recycled scrap content (such as that generated by most electric arc furnaces) should be used by the construction industry where appropriate, but it should not be specified purely in the hope of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. This also means that where project-level carbon limits or targets are met through specifying high percentages of recycled steel, this won’t lead to global GHG emission reductions.”5
Recommendations for designers, specifiers and purchasers
To support decarbonisation of the steel sector and to avoid ‘emissions shuffling’, associated with globally constrained materials such as scrap steel, read the recommendations outlined in Embodied Carbon and Steel Products.
Further reading
Explore these topics to learn more about the key components of steel circularity.