Do Metals Contribute to Sustainable Building? You Bet They Do
Posted on by Chris Smith
While you may think of wood as the main source of sustainable building material, various metals actually play an integral role in keeping the green building industry going. Here’s how metals contribute to the bigger sustainability picture:
They’re Recyclable
Metals like copper, stainless steel, and aluminum are 100% recyclable which means they can be remade into the same product without sacrificing quality. Recycling metal also reduces emissions and uses less energy than mining, milling, and refining new material. Just to give you an idea of how useful recycled metal can be, here are a few stats you might find interesting:
- 90% of end-of-life stainless steel is recycled into new products and most stainless products contain about 60% recycled content.
- Of all the aluminum produced in the United States, around 75% of it is still in use today.
- Approximately 75% of all copper based products contain recycled copper.