Recycled Content

Recycled content of products manufactured at Port Kembla Steelworks, NSW

At Port Kembla Steelworks, NSW, BlueScope uses the blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) steelmaking method to manufacture flat steel products.

The average recycled content in the steel is 24%, which includes pre- and post-consumer recycled materials, according to recycled content categories defined in ISO 14021:2016. The figures provided are based on FY25 data.

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.¹

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.

Figure 1 - Global crude steel production vs scrap availability

“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.”²

The role of scrap in decarbonisation — Figure 2 – Procuring higher than average proportions of a limited lower carbon supply has little to no overall benefit to global emissions (refer footnote 2)

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.