Green Society has become increasingly concerned with the health of the natural environment and the role of building materials in impacting the ecosystem. Therefore, Architects, designers, developers and building contractors are increasingly conscious about green architecture and green construction. More and more, they are selecting green architectural products to design into their building structures to do their part in saving the well being of our earth.
The recognition of and response to environmental concerns is often called “greening”. The “greenness” or quality of environmental performance is leading some to consider this in materials selection. Stainless steel is 100% recyclable. Recycled material is used in over 65% of all new stainless products.
Stainless steel is a “Green” material as demonstrated by the evaluation of stainless steel using the following critical environmental guidelines:
Environmental Principles
The development of environmental policies is one of the most vital aspects of environment management and many stainless steel producers have these policies in place as a rule. Responsible producers are dedicated to operating their facilites in compliance with governmental and local environmental laws.
Environmental Management Systems
Stainless Steel Producers have established environmental affairs departments that concentrate on environmental issues.
Green Materials, Energy and Water Usage
The utilisation of these resources is monitored closely. The raw material for the making of stainless steel is “recycled” stainless steel scrap that comes from within the factories themselves and from fabricators as well as customers after a long and valuable life in their industry. Furnace waste products are collected and re-used. State-of-the-art electric melting furnces with computer controls ensure efficient use of electric power. Water is used as a cooling medium in the process of manufacturing stainless steel and is recycled up to 100 times prior to being disposed.
Pollution Prevention
Air discharges from the furnaces are gathered through a series of ducts and hoods. These discharges are then directed to a high efficiency filter where solid particles are captured and the metals recovered. Air discharges from the cleaning processes are captured and redirected to a fume scrubber to remove the acid mist.
Waste Minimization
In all possible instances, minimisation of waste is a main objective in the stainless steel industry. All of the disposed product (tail ends and edge trims) are gathered and separated by type. These parts are then returned to the electric furnace where it is recycled into in-house scrap.
Recycling
Stainless steel products are 100% recyclable. This product has value even after and extended and useful life as capital goods or consumer products. The long life of Stainless steel products contributes to the minimisation of resource consumption to that new resources are not needed as often to replace corroded or shorter life cycle products. Recycled stainless steel that is processed in the electric furnace is of the same quality as the original and is not of a lesser quality as in the case with other recycled construction materials.
Therefore stainless steel is a green architectural product and is the preference material selected by numerous professionals in the building industry for their green archcitecture designs.
Steel Studio International will continue to develop and educate professionals in the industry on how to use our “Green” stainless steel balustrade designs in green construction.
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