Ferrous scrap: incentives are needed to increase demand in the EU

Breaking myths and defining a new roadmap for decarbonising steel through recycling is the main title of a document published by the European Confederation of Recycling Industries (EURIC).

The European recycling industry currently leads the world in steel recycling and over the past 20 years the supply of recycled scrap has exceeded the EU’s domestic demand. Therefore, EURIC stated that there is no past or current shortage of scrap supply in the EU.

According to EURIC, incentives are needed in the EU to ‘take into account the environmental benefits of steel recycling, support the demand for recycled scrap and accelerate the transition from carbon-containing steel production in the blast furnace to environmentally friendly electric arc furnace production’.

Export restrictions will reduce the supply of recycled scrap in the region and further weaken the strategic independence of circular value chains in Europe.

In this context, EURIC stated that incentives should be a priority to accelerate the sustainable transition in the European steel sector.

It is crucial to bridge the gap between climate legislation and general EU legislation by directing investments towards the most environmentally friendly and circularly efficient methods of industrial activities.

Investments should be directed, for example, towards switching to electric arc furnaces in steel production and increasing the share of scrap in total raw material use to 30 per cent, in order to reduce the carbon footprint and improve circularity in blast furnaces that have to produce different types of flat products.

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