SUSTAINABILITY AND STEEL
PACKAGING
Today’s
steel can may look the same as those used 20 years ago, but
subtle changes have occurred. You probably haven’t noticed them
because the steel can remains a strong and durable as ever. Yet
the amount of steel used to manufacture the container has been
reduced by approximately 31 percent, and the amount of tin used
has been reduced by more than 60 percent.
This achievement is just one of many ways the steel industry has
modernized its steelmaking process to produce more with less
steel. More efficient steelmaking processes now in place have
dramatically reduced the amount of steel scrap generated at the
mill itself. And lighter, stronger grades of steel are being
used in automobiles, appliances and other products.
Other packaging industries have done their share to use less
material in their respective containers. These motivations,
however, are due more to economics rather than the environment.
By using less steel, for instance, we can make more steel cans
with the same raw steel, thus reducing costs in our effort to
offer a competitive product.
Steel food cans are the most recycled food and beverage package.
More than 1,500 food items come in steel cans, and more than
28,000 community recycling program in North America collect
steel cans for recycling.
This recycling record, along with efficiencies in the
steelmaking process documented throughout this site, have given
steel an inherent advantage as it continues to minimize its
environmental footprint. This case in point is illustrated
through the case history below.
