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Ferrous metal recycling facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Metals like iron are super important, and we use them for so many things! Instead of always digging up new metal from the ground, we can collect old metal items and turn them into something new. This is called recycling. It's a smart way to save resources and energy. Steel, which is a type of iron, is the most recycled metal in the world. One common way to recycle iron is by adding carbon to it, which helps turn it into new steel.

Why Recycle Metal?

Recycling metal is a great idea for a few reasons. First, it costs less money to recycle old metal than to mine new iron from the earth and process it. Second, it saves a lot of energy! Making new steel from recycled metal uses much less energy than making it from scratch. This also helps reduce pollution. When we recycle, we're being kind to our planet.

What Kinds of Metal Are Recycled?

You might be surprised how much metal gets recycled! In the United States, things like cars, appliances, building materials, and steel containers (like food cans) are recycled the most. For example, in 2008, almost all the steel used to build things (about 97%) was recycled. Even more steel was recycled than the amount used to make new cars! Most home appliances, like washing machines or refrigerators, are made of about 75% steel.

Images for kids

  • Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corp Scrap Piles

    Piles of scrap metal collected for the World War II effort, circa 1941

  • Autowreckers

    The "organized chaos" of a scrapyard

  • Day 56 - West Midlands Police tackling metal theft

    British police investigating possibly-stolen metal at a scrapyard

  • Scrap Metal (Eugene, Oregon)

    Loading scrap gondolas in Eugene, Oregon

  • Veolia Miljø Metall (2881088183)

    Pile of shredded scrap in Norway

  • 2013 e visiting-scrap-metal-site-at-akaa-finland ore-e-refineries c-none q 4416x3312 scrap-metal-recycle img

    Scrap metal rusts in the snow (Finland)

  • CompactedSteelScraps

    A pile of steel scrap in Brussels, waiting to be recycled

  • VIEW FROM CARTERET, NJ, ACROSS THE ARTHUR KILL TO STATEN ISLAND SCRAPYARD AND SHIP GRAVEYARD - NARA - 551997

    Ship breaking operations on Staten Island (c. 1973)

  • I Need Your Scrap Metal Art.IWMPST14749

    Poster for World War II scrap collection campaign

  • ANewFlyerBusUnderAllThatJunkInSimsMetalScrapYard

    This pile of mixed scrap includes an old bus

  • Steel recycling bales

    Compressed bales consisting mostly of tin cans

  • Locomotives stacked for scrapping

    British Rail locomotives stacked awaiting scrapping

  • Stacked cars in city junkyard will be used for scrap - nara - 552739 retuschiert

    Flattened cars stacked near Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, United States)

  • "A compact car"

    A single compacted car (Finland)

  • Car Cubes (3463695956)

    Stacked cubed cars (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)

  • CompactedSteelScraps

    Compacted scrap pile (Austria)

  • Varia (15966651796)

    Rhine River scrap barge (Basel, Switzerland)

  • Bremen Hafen E Schrottumschlag

    Scrap awaiting export (Bremen, Germany)

  • North Africa 2007 163 Truck

    Scrap metal hauler (Libya)

  • Deritend Car Park

    Partition made of compacted cars (Birmingham, England)

  • Dublin 6

    A train awaits scrappage (Dublin, Ireland)

  • NYC subway cars used as artificial reef

    New York City Subway cars being dumped at sea to enlarge an artificial reef (South Carolina, United States)

  • Scrap paper dealer in Chandigarh

    Scrap paper dealer (Chandigarh, India)

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Ferrous metal recycling Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.