If you’ve ever walked through a steel coil and strip processing plant, you’ve probably felt the weight of raw steel on your shoulders—literally and figuratively. For decades, our business has revolved around moving that raw material, turning it into components for everything from automotive frames to construction beams. But over the last 10 years, one question has come up in almost every client conversation, whether it’s a small fabricator in Ohio or a large construction firm in Texas: How much recycled content is actually in the steel coils you’re supplying? Steel Coil & Strip
It’s not a trivial question anymore. Global regulations are tightening: the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) now imposes tariffs on high-emission imported steel, and U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credits tie part of their green manufacturing incentives to recycled material percentages. For our clients, choosing a steel coil with higher recycled content doesn’t just help their sustainability reports—it can cut costs, qualify them for government contracts, and reduce their carbon footprint. But the answer isn’t as straightforward as “this coil is 90% recycled” or “that one is 30%.” The truth is, recycled content in steel coils is a layered, regulated metric that depends on how steel is made, traced, and verified at every step of the supply chain.
Let’s start with the basics. Steel is the most recycled material on Earth—more than plastic, aluminum, and paper combined. Every ton of steel recycled saves about 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone, according to the World Steel Association (Worldsteel). But not all recycled steel ends up in new steel coils. There are two main production routes for steel today: the blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) route, which uses iron ore and coke as primary inputs, and the electric arc furnace (EAF) route, which uses 100% scrap steel as its feedstock.
Here’s where the recycled content question gets tricky. For EAF steel, the calculation is simple: the feedstock is scrap, so the recycled content is theoretically 100%—right? Not exactly. Because EAFs don’t only use post-consumer scrap (like old cars or appliances); they also use pre-consumer scrap, which is the leftover steel from manufacturing processes, like offcuts from a coil that didn’t make it to a customer or trimmings from a steel mill. Pre-consumer scrap is still recycled, but it’s often generated on-site or sourced within the same supply chain, and it’s not always tracked as part of a recycled content claim. On top of that, some EAFs mix virgin iron units (like direct reduced iron, or DRI) with scrap to adjust the chemical composition of the steel, which can lower the reported recycled content even if most of the input is scrap.
For BF-BOF steel, the recycled content is even more nuanced. Traditional BF-BOF mills produce steel from iron ore, so their primary input is virgin material. But in recent years, many BF-BOF mills have started adding scrap steel to their charge to reduce their carbon emissions. A typical BF-BOF coil might have between 10% and 35% recycled content, depending on how much scrap the mill adds. But that number is self-reported by the mill, right? No—there are standards that govern how recycled content is measured and declared, which is why our team at [Company Name] relies on third-party verification to make sure every coil we sell meets the numbers we share.
The most widely recognized standard for recycled steel content is ISO 14021, a set of environmental labeling standards from the International Organization for Standardization. ISO 14021 requires that recycled content be split into two categories: post-consumer and pre-consumer. Post-consumer recycled content is material that has completed its life cycle as a consumer product—like a used steel bar from a demolished building or a junked car. Pre-consumer recycled content is material generated from industrial processes, like scrap from a steel mill’s own production or offcuts from a fabricator’s process before the product is delivered to a customer. For a coil to qualify for a “high recycled content” label under ISO, the total post-consumer content is usually the number that matters most to clients, because pre-consumer scrap is often seen as a closed-loop loop within manufacturing, rather than a new contribution to reducing virgin material use.
We’ve had clients come to us expecting a 90% recycled content coil for a new electric vehicle (EV) frame, only to realize that such a number isn’t realistic for commercial steel coils right now. The automotive industry is a big part of our business, and EV manufacturers are pushing for higher recycled content in their components to meet their own sustainability targets. The reality is, EAF coils with 100% total recycled content might have 20% to 40% post-consumer content, because the rest is pre-consumer scrap. BF-BOF coils top out around 35% post-consumer recycled content, as most of their feedstock is iron ore. The only way to get a truly high post-consumer recycled content steel coil is to work with mills that source large volumes of post-consumer scrap and can trace it through their supply chain.
That’s where our role as a steel coil and strip supplier comes in. We don’t just warehouse coils—we work directly with a network of 12 mills across North America and Europe, each with their own EAF and BF-BOF production lines, to track the recycled content of every coil we stock. For example, if a client needs a galvanized steel coil for a residential roofing project, we can source an EAF coil with 30% post-consumer recycled content, verified by a third-party auditor, which qualifies for some local green building incentives. If another client needs a cold-rolled steel strip for a commercial HVAC unit, we can provide a BF-BOF coil with 25% post-consumer recycled content, which meets their corporate sustainability reporting requirements.
But there’s a common misconception we hear all the time: that higher recycled content equals better quality steel. That’s not true. Steel’s strength, durability, and corrosion resistance depend on its chemical composition, not just its recycled content. A coil with 25% recycled EAF steel can have the same tensile strength as a coil with 10% recycled BF-BOF steel, because the mill adjusts the alloy elements (like manganese, chromium, and nickel) to meet industry standards. We’ve seen clients reject a high-recycled-content coil because they thought it would be “weaker,” only to realize that it meets all the ASTM International standards for the application they’re using it for.
Another factor to consider is the traceability of recycled content. For clients in industries with strict regulations—like aerospace, medical devices, or government construction—being able to prove where the recycled scrap came from is non-negotiable. In the past, mills might have mixed scrap from multiple sources without documenting it, which made it impossible to track post-consumer content. Today, thanks to digital tracking systems, many mills use blockchain to log every batch of scrap, from when it’s collected (like a scrapyard’s load of old washing machines) to when it’s melted into steel coil. Our team works with these mills to access that blockchain data, so we can provide our clients with a certificate of recycled content that lists both the total percentage and the post-consumer breakdown, along with audit records.
We recently had a client in the construction industry that was bidding on a $50 million municipal building project. The project required 40% recycled content in all structural steel, per local green building codes. We were able to source a combination of EAF and BF-BOF coils from our network that had an average of 38% post-consumer recycled content, which was close enough to meet the code (and the client adjusted their ordering to hit exactly 40%). Without that traceability, we couldn’t have proven the percentage, and they would have lost the bid.
So, what’s the takeaway for anyone buying steel coils or strips? The amount of recycled content in a coil isn’t a single number—it’s a combination of the production route (EAF vs. BF-BOF), the type of scrap (post-consumer vs. pre-consumer), third-party verification, and the application’s requirements. If you’re looking to source steel with higher recycled content, work with a supplier that has direct relationships with mills, uses verified standards like ISO 14021, and can provide detailed traceability.
At the end of the day, our business is about more than selling steel coils—it’s about helping our clients meet their sustainability goals without sacrificing quality. Whether you’re a fabricator looking to reduce your carbon footprint, a contractor bidding on a green building project, or a manufacturer sourcing components for EVs, we can help you navigate the recycled content landscape. Our team has decades of experience working with mills and clients to get the right steel coil for your needs, including transparent, verified recycled content data. If you have questions about how recycled content works for your specific project, or want to discuss sourcing steel coils with your required recycled content, we’re here to help. Reach out to our team to start a conversation about your steel needs.
Zinc-Al-Mg Solar Mounting Bracket References
World Steel Association. (2023). Steel Recycling Facts.
International Organization for Standardization. (2019). ISO 14021: Environmental Labels and Declarations – Self-Declared Environmental Claims (Type II Environmental Labeling).
ASTM International. (2022). Standard Specification for Steel Sheet, Cold-Rolled, Carbon, Structural, High-Strength Low-Alloy, and High-Strength Low-Alloy with Improved Formability.
European Commission. (2023). Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: Steel Sector Details.
U.S. Department of the Treasury. (2023). Inflation Reduction Act: Clean Manufacturing Tax Credit Guidelines.
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