APEAL spotlights improved steel recycling for EU Green Deal but carbon concerns remain

09 Feb 2022 --- The Association for European Producers of Steel for Packaging (APEAL) has released a report on the environmental sustainability benefits of steel packaging and how to boost recycling rates throughout the EU as part of the bloc’s European Green Deal.

APEAL – composed of members Acciaierie d’Italia, ArcelorMittal, Liberty Liège-Dudelange, Tata Steel, Thyssenkrupp Rasselstein and US Steel Košice – employs over 200,000 workers in Europe, 15,000 of whom are employed directly in the production of steel for packaging across ten manufacturing sites. 

The association promotes steel as an environmentally sustainable solution for a range of essential packaging items, touting the material’s high recycling rates and giving advice on how better sorting, collection and design can further circularize the economy and lower EU carbon emissions. 

The report follows last year’s suspension of steel tariffs imposed by US President Trump on the EU, effectively ending a transatlantic trade war and opening the possibility for Western nations to compete with China, which produces roughly 57% of global steel through what the US administration has branded environmentally and economically “dirty” practices. 

Boosting recycling rates 
The report states that the recycling rate for steel packaging across Europe is 84%, according to the latest available data from 2019 from Eunomia. This rate makes steel the most recycled of all household material wastes. The statistics show that Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany rank highest for steel recycling, with 98.8%, 95.6%, and 92.4% rates recorded, respectively. 

Steel production contributes roughly 10% of global carbon emissions but has the highest recycling rate of any household waste material.In the last 25 years, the recycling rate of steel packaging in Europe increased by 50%, from 34% in 1994 to 84% in 2019, says APEAL. These rates, along with the metal’s suitability for a wide range of F&B products, make steel an ideal material for promotion in the European Green Deal, claims the association. 

The deal, which was formed in 2019, aims to make the EU carbon neutral by 2050. APEAL says promoting a separate collection of steel packaging waste should be a central part of the Green Deal. The way household steel packaging waste is currently collected has a significant impact on its recycling quality. 

Despite being the most recycled waste material, the quality of steel packaging scrap is damaged by primitive collection systems. “If all post-consumer steel packaging waste were to be collected as a mono-waste stream, it would be of a very high quality, as the steel would not be contaminated with other non-magnetic materials,” states the report. 

“However, in most cases due to the assumed high cost, this is not feasible.” APEAL is therefore calling for harmonized separation and treatment practices for steel recycling throughout Europe to lower carbon emissions associated with lost material, poor quality scrap and hard-to-recycle designs. 

Key policy recommendations 
Based on what seems a promising outlook for steel rates, APEAL urges the EU to prioritize several key areas for the steel industry, besides optimizing separation collection, which the association says are fundamental to the decarbonizing industry in line with the Green Deal targets. 

These are: 

• Pre-treatment prior to incineration: In case of packaging in residual waste going to incineration, state-of-the-art pre-treatment processes, including the use of magnets, should extract the recyclable packaging prior to the residual waste being incinerated. 
• No recyclable packaging to landfill: Packaging that can be recycled should be diverted from landfills. 
• Second overband in sorting plants: When collected together with other recyclable waste fractions, steel packaging can easily be separated using an overband magnetic separator at the sorting plant. APEAL recommends that sorting plants install a second overband to capture small steel items, such as caps, lids and closures for recycling. 
• Defined quality requirements: High-quality recycling is only possible with high-quality input material to recycling operations. APEAL recommends contractual agreements between the supplier and the customer at each processing step. 
• Consumer involvement: Commingled separate collection scenarios carry a risk of cross-contamination. APEAL, therefore, recommends involving consumers using easy-to-understand sorting instructions or enforcement to motivate and incentivize participation. 

Steel’s carbon production problem 
Despite APEAL highlighting the unmatched recycling rates for steel throughout Europe, steel production remains one of the globe’s most polluting practices. 

According to the World Steel Association, steel contributes between 7-9% of global carbon emissions. For this reason, along with major economic concerns, the European steel industry was relieved by the recent reversal of steel trade tariffs between the EU and US. APEAL is calling on the EU to enforce better standards for decarbonizing the steel industry.

Axel Eggert, director-general of the European Steel Association, hailed the end of transatlantic tariffs, as it may allow for more environmentally sustainable production practices to take hold. 

“State-supported steel production and capacity building with carbon-intensive technologies contribute significantly to climate change. The global steel industry is responsible for almost 10% of global direct and indirect carbon emissions, while the less carbon-intensive EU steel industry accounts for only about 0.5%,” he says. 

Cheap and polluting production in China has allowed the country to illegally dump steel on the divided US and European markets for decades, claim critics. 

Meanwhile, APEAL member Tata Steel in the Netherlands is now under criminal investigation for possible “intentional and unlawful” discharge of “hazardous substances into the soil, air or surface water.” 

The company has faced nearly continuous public scrutiny for polluting practices, which investigations have concluded contribute to the country’s acute and children’s health problems. 

By Louis Gore-Langton