Each year in the United States, over 150 million tons of scrap materials are recycled. This includes 85 million tons of iron and steel, 5.5 million tons of aluminum, 2 million tons of stainless steel, 1.8 million tons of copper, 1.2 million tons of lead and 420,000 tons of zinc.
To put it mildly, that’s a lot of scrap metal. All of that makes the United States scrap metal industry worth 38 billion dollars and the revenue from the United States’ scrap metal exports totaled 21 billion in 2014.
Here is an infographic that explores how demolition companies recycle scrap metal, how recycled scrap metal is used, and the impact on the environment.
[Click image for full size version]
Via Elder Demolition