Steel has greatly exceeded the recycling targets of the EU Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste
Directive 94/62/EC on Packaging and Packaging Waste stipulated that each packaging material needed to achieve a minimum recycling rate of 15% by 30 June 2001 and that recycling of all packaging materials in total was to be between 25% and 45%*.

The end of 2001 was the time to assess steel’s achievement. Data compiled by APEAL from European countries showed that around 55% of the steel packaging entering the market in the European Union had been recycled, with national results ranging from 25% to 88%.

* : Portugal, Ireland & Greece have until December 2005 to reach the same recycling objectives as the other EU countries

Belgium (88%), Luxembourg and Germany (78%), the Netherlands and Austria (77%), Sweden (71%) and Switzerland (70%) remained the leading countries for steel packaging recovery. Norway, Denmark and France each achieved around 55%, followed by the United Kingdom (37%), Portugal (28%) and Finland (25%)**. In Ireland, the rate rose from 16% to 66%, thanks to improved statistical coverage of the recovery of industrial steel packaging.

** : The recycling rates for Finland and Denmark are those for the last full year, i.e. 2000

A three-fold increase in recycling within 10 years
In 2001, 1,900,000 tonnes of steel packaging were recycled in Europe. This represents an increase of 15% compared to 2000. Approximately 1,250,000 additional tonnes of steel packaging are now recycled annually by the steel industry, compared to the level ten years ago, contributing towards sustainable development.

Steel packaging recycling: an international success
On an international level, Japan (85%) and northern Europe are the recycling leaders (7 countries exceeding 70%), followed by South Africa (63.5%), the United States (58.5%), Korea (53.1%), Australia (42%) and Brazil (around 40%).

Steel packaging: easy to sort and recycle
A number of steel packaging collection systems – magnetic extraction from collected household waste, kerbside multi-material selective collection and voluntary take-back to container parks and drop-off centres - operate side by side, providing flexibility in the way steel packaging collection schemes are implemented so that local circumstances can be taken into account.

Automatic sorting of the ferrous fraction of household waste using electromagnets in incinerators and in sorting or composting centres makes it possible to minimise the costs of collecting steel packaging and put used steel beverage cans, aerosols, paint pails, food cans, etc, to further use, without requiring specific collection systems for each type of steel packaging.