Site showcases steel sustainability

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New Zealand Steel (NZS) occupies a unique place in steel making. It uses immense ironsand reserves from the North Island’s west coast to provide the raw material for the high-quality steel made at the company’s Glenbrook plant — the only plant in the world to make steel from ironsand.

But NZS’s commitment to sustainable practices isn’t a response to recent events. It actually began when the company was born more than 40 years ago when it established an environmental lab in the 1970s, and has had an environmental management system in place ever since.
What is new though is the impressive new web site devoted solely to the company’s sustainability philosophies, policies and practices. 

It contains:
• archived industry articles profiling NZS’s approach to sustainability,
• sustainable steel manufacturing and building processes using steel in various applications,
• a technical explanation of the recycling of steel,
• the sustainable processes carried out in the production of steel from ironsand, and
• an overview of the company and it’s commitment to sustainability.

The web site is a new medium to inform those in the industry of this commitment. For instance, you’ll find out that as a member of the World Steel Association (formerly the IISI), NZS actively participates in world steel policy commitments. One such policy commitment is NZS’s zero waste vision.

Steel generates minimal production, manufacturing, construction site and demolition waste. And all steel waste has scrap value — steel is 100% endlessly recyclable and suffers no product degradation in the process.

NZS has reduced the waste stream going into the on-site landfill by 60% in the past three years due to targeted recycling and reduction programmes.
The company also tries to keep its utility bills down. By recycling hot gases from the manufacturing process, it generates 70% of its electricity needs.
Only 1% of the water it uses is discharged each day after being treated, while the remaining water is recycled and recirculated.

The site at www.sustainablesteel.co.nz will go live at the end of February.

 

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