Towards Zero Waste in Steel Industry: Polish Case Study

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Poland is one of the most important producers of raw steel and steel products in Europe. During the past decade a considerable number of companies in steel sector in Poland efforts to reduce their impact on the environment, applying the principles of cleaner production (CP). The restructuring of the industry and implementation new eco-technologies caused an increase in share of material recycling, including steel scrap recovered in production processes and from post-use recycling. Depending on the type of steel waste, it can be returned to the process as energy source or raw material for steel fabrication or else be traded as co-product to other industrial applications. The reuse of these products is of great importance for the sector owing to economical and environmental aspects Such directions of steel waste utilization are consistent with the ‘zero waste’ strategy and they should be further investigated in Polish conditions, taking into account the possibilities of development, modernization and construction of new installations. These eco-technologies will be especially supported by European funds in new programming period 2014-2020.

In recent years, unsustained mining practices have led to exploitation of natural resources causing extensive environmental degradation. Moreover, continually increasing demand for metals, declining ore grades and complex new deposits are all contributing to a rise in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from primary metal production. The consequence of this is fact that the mineral processing and metal production sector is coming under increasing pressure to improve the overall sustainability of its operations, especially by decreasing energy consumption, GHG emissions and waste disposal.

Global environmental compliance is an important objective in corporate activities. Government institutions and enterprises have taken various initiatives to contribute to sustainable development. It is associated with the moving towards a more circular economy (CE). The concept of a circular economy has been first raised by British environmental economists Pearce and Turner in 1990, who pointed out that a traditional open-ended economy was developed with no built-in tendency to recycle, which was reflected by treating the environment as a waste reservoir.

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ISSN: 2472-0437

Current Issue: Volume 5: Issue 1

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Rosie Elizabeth,
Editorial Manager,
Journal of Steel Structures and Construction