Did you know steel is 100% recyclable? For thousands of years, its quality and duration have made it a protagonist in manufacturing different products. Therefore, it’s currently very present in our daily lives.
According to the World Steel Association, in 2019, 1.768 tons of steel were used in the world, distributed mainly in buildings and construction sites (52%), motor vehicles (12%), and metallic products (10%).
¿What makes steel a unique product?
Steel is used in sectors ranging from construction to the creation of medical supplies, including the automotive industry, food, and electro domestics, among others. Here we’ll tell you about some of the characteristics that make it so popular:
- It’s a material that offers a favorable price-quality-durability relation. On average, the small and medium products that contain steel can have a lifespan of up to 40 years. At the same time, large structures can last more than 100 years with the metal intact.
- Because it’s so resistant and easy to sterilize, stainless steel is used in the medical sector to manufacture supplies and tools, such as heart valves, implants, and screws.
- Another advantage is that steel can be recycled infinitely without losing its properties, causing a circular economy. We take advantage of this attribute in Planta Ternium Manizales, where we produce sustainable steel from scrap and use the co-products derived from the process, like waste and calamine.
- Steel has contributed to towns’ economic growth and development, and a big part of their infrastructure and technology advances are because of this material.
Below, we share a video where you’ll know some of the pieces and instruments of your day-to-day life that maybe you didn’t know to contain steel.