Steel is the easiest packaging material to recycle. It is a material that is 100% recyclable. This makes steel a very energy efficient material to use. Due to the strength of the material and its ease of recycling, steel is often used for packaging commercial and industrial products such as food, drinks, aerosols and pet food etc. Today all steel cans contain at least 25% of recycled steel. The process of recycling steel is no new discovery. In fact steel has been recycled for over 150 years.

The easiest way to separate steel from other raw materials is by using a magnet for extraction. By using an efficient and low cost magnet steel can be easily separated from any waste material. Ferrous material can be separated by a single pass suspended magnet or an over band magnet or drum magnet. After separation the steel is crushed into bales. These bales are then added to a furnace along with molten iron and oxygen is blasted through. The common way to recycle steel is to melt it electrically using an arc furnace or an induction furnace.