The steel industry has been actively recycling for more than 150 years, in large part because recycling helps conserve raw materials, energy, and landfill space, and more importantly it reduces production cost. It is cheaper to recycle iron and steel scrap than to mine iron ore and convert pig iron to form 'new' steel. Steel does not lose any of its inherent physical properties during the recycling process, and has drastically reduced energy and material requirements than refinement from iron ore. As a more efficient and economical alternative to iron ore, steel scrap is one of the most recycled materials in the world today with over 50% of the world's steel produced from scrap. The recyclable steel scarp often takes form of steel cans, automobiles, appliances, construction materials, and other steel products.

Ferrous scrap can be classified in various ways. It can be classified into three broad groups according to the source: home or "revert" scrap, prompt industrial scrap or process scrap, and dormant scrap. A more popular method in business practice is to classify by the metallurgical properties such as shape, origin, and chemical composition. The broad category in this classification includes heavy melting, bundles, mild steel turnings and borings, mill scrap, etc. The classification of the ferrous scrap differs by countries and regions. The most three widely accepted ones are US standard, Japanese standard and Russian and European standard. Here, we present the first two:

US ISRI Standard: Ferrous Scrap

Japanese Standard: Classification standard for iron and steel scraps (JIS G2401-1979)

A classification used by CCIC can be found as following:

Ferrous Scrap

• Re-melting scrap ingots

• Other iron and steel waste and scrap

• Waste and scrap from mechanical process

• Compressed auto body

• Waste and scrap of other alloy steel

• Waste and scrap of cast iron

• Waste and scrap of stainless steel

• Waste and scrap of tinned iron and steel