Recycling Rate of Ferrous Metal

The ferrous metals are predominantly iron-based, and mostly magnetic. Iron is the principal constituent of steel, and steel is by far the most widely-used metal. It is reported that the end-of-life recycling rate of 70%-90% can be estimated for iron and steel. This value belongs to one of the highest end-of-life recycling rate among numerous industrially-used metals.

As for other ferrous metals, the recycling rate is low compared with iron and steel. Take the niobium for example. Niobium is often used in high strength-low alloy steels and super-alloys. More than 50% end-of-life recycling rates could be found for manganese niobium. The recycling rate of some rare ferrous metals is lower. Molybdenum follows with rates between 25%-50%, while vanadium is below 1%