Where does all this scrap go to?

Everything we scrap and recycle where does it end up? Does it all go to China? Do we have plants here to re process this stuff?

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

My steel shred ends up here at Steel Dynamics, according to the info their the 6 largest in the US. Omni Source and Lewis and a few other yards sell direct to the foundry. Recycling here in the USA

Where does it go to, after the foundry? ; )

Kinda funny the plastic and glass bottles we put in the recycle bins need to leave the country just for us to buy them again! As far as steel goes why cant we start up the old steel mills and re process this stuff? Where was the EPA when we were making everything here?

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

Thanks here to Wiki; I personally see them making/shipping I beams and rails.

Not trying to knock you at all, Mech, but it still doesn't show where they go. Who is using flat plate steel? Shipbuilders, Where are Shipbuilders? Mostly in China, India, Germany, etc
Who is building new rails ? Look around, the rails nearest me were built in 1877, you can look down them and wonder how it holds a train on the track, and no longer need to wonder why the trains go so slow. Not only will 320 ft rails allow less welds, but much faster construction, as far as the rails themselves, 4 times faster which is just what China and other foregn countries want, more rails, faster
That's what gave us an edge before, during, and after WW2, was our transportation system(rails) and our manufacturing capabilities. Where is the majority of it gone, all overseas. We've become like a train wreck that's already happened, just waiting for the crash, and we don't have much left to hold us together. It's rather sad to take a good look around at what's going on here and abroad
Somebody mentioned earlier about "when the jobs come back". It reminded me of that Bruce Springsteen tune, "My Home Town" I think was the name of it, said "those jobs are leavin boys, and they ain't coming back"
It's not really political, but goes to the core of America, nobody seems to care anymore, they just wanna ride the train

haha, a 320 foot rail on a semi? ; )

We still build high rise buildings with "I" beams and warehouses also, we still make gardrails for our highways. I think we still make gardrails, I might be wrong on that one. We have a shipbuilding company here in Tampa and I think one in Jacksonvile.

I rarely post, but I lurk here nearly every day. I feel I need to comment on this thread. As with most things that one reads on the internet there is often a bit of truth sprinkled in with conjecture and opinion. I am by no means an expert, but I do have experience and knowledge of the subject at hand that is quite contrary to some of what has been posted here.

I grew up in western PA, the heart of steel-making in the United States. I know several people who have decades of experience in the industry as well as the industries that support the steel mills. While in college I worked for a very large company that provided support to the mills. After college I worked in the industry in a management role. I left the steel industry roughly 10 years ago, but still have several close friends in the industry. In addition, I follow the industry in the financial markets and try to stay informed for investment purposes.

I'll try not to ramble too much here.... Is the steel industry as strong as it was for most of the 20th century? Absolutely not. However, it is much stronger than it was 10 to 15 years ago. Saying that the steel mills can't operate profitably when compared to China is a misinformed statement. Can we compete with the Chinese on labor cost? On an hourly wage basis no, its not even close (although the gap is rapidly closing). However, on a productivity basis the US mills are extremely competitive as our tonnage produced relative to labor hours consumed is much higher. Have the US mills struggled due to stiffer regulations than those imposed in places like China? Certainly, but that's not the reason the steel industry has recently gone through some dark years. The United States steel industry has nobody to blame but themselves for mismanaging their business and not investing in new technologies. Fortunately, the last 10 years as seen a dramatic shift in that mindset. The company I used to work for has been extremely profitable recently. There's a facility in western PA that is currently constructing 1.16 billion dollar melt shop. That's B as in Billion. Let's just say that business is good. Furthermore, as someone who knows quite well the health hazards associated with steel making I am a firm believer that our environmental regulations are a good thing. Take a look at some pictures of Pittsburgh or other rust belt cities from the 1970s and ask yourself if you would like to live there. China's citizens would probably love to have some cleaner air to breath. Take a look at the current air quality index for Beijing.

Its been a long time since the US was the dominant player in the global steel market. I don't know the current statistics, but when I was in the industry the two largest global steel corporations were based outside of the US. I would be surprised if many folks could guess were numbers 1 and 2 were located. The number 1 producer at that time was based in France. #2 was in Japan. #3 was US Steel.

As far as our steel going oversees I can only tell you what I know. I can't speak to the carbon side of the industry as my experience was in stainless. One of my positions at the mill was to act as in interface between sales and manufacturing. I knew our customer list well and I can't think of a single customer that wasn't based in the United States. The steel was produced domestically and consumed domestically. For reference, we shipped over 20,000 tons/month of cold roll.

The industry I've worked in for the last 10 years is starting to change its tune on China. China is still a threat, but they're also becoming a huge opportunity for sales growth. Wages in China have been growing at better than 10% per year and that trend is expected to continue. China is no longer the lowest cost producer in the world. Their wages and middle class are growing rapidly. In fact, China's growing middle class has several economists predicting that they will soon become a net importer rather than an exporter. My current industry already ships vast quantities of raw materials to China with little concern of the finished product returning to the US to compete with our finished product as a huge chunk of what China produces today stays in China for their own consumption. In addition to these forces rising transportation costs and a lack of control are causing many US manufactures to return their operations to the good old USA.

What I've written here is certainly not meant to be all inclusive or indicative of every situation. It is however, based on firsthand experience of the subject at hand.

I couldn't agree more with what Pistone wrote. The steel industry is definitely making a comeback and consolidation has most certainly occurred. The number of mills that have either closed or changed ownership over the past 15 years is staggering. Ownership if the mill I worked in changed hands 3 times in less than 5 years, but that facility is practically printing money today. Mini mills have changed the game. Mini mills rely on domestic scrap.

I don't know where your steel ends up personally, but I worked for Tcims as a subcontractor for the steel mill. Its right in claymont delaware. We bought steel from all the surrounding yards. Thats how I learned the difference between our different types of steel (turnings, 5 foot (p&s), shred, cast iron( which we called beach iron), Heavymelt (HMS), and tin bush)

we always say we are tuning our cars into tin cans

For shipbuilding, we're not in the top ten shipbuilding nations, we don't even have a single top ten company
• Largest shipbuilding nations by compensated gross tonnage 2011 | Statistic
For rails we're number two in moving freight, almost half as much as China moves, but not even a contender on passenger charts(but the US freight figure is from 2007, I think it probly hasn't improved much, if any)
Rail usage statistics by country - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In steel production we're third, even behind Japan, but per capita not even in the top ten
World Steel Association - World Steel in Figures 2012

Originally Posted by olddude

making scrap the #1 bulk export,.... the #1 product in the trade deficit reduction

Pertaining to the question posed in this thread, and some of the replies, olddude, that could very well be the saddest fact of all.
Scrap as our #1 export.
Using it to pay off debts that we really shouldn't have in the first place, I guess would be topping on the cake?