Why Is Steel Shot Dust Hard to Recycle?

Finding the right partner to recycle your steel shot dust is getting easier with specialty recyclers like Wisdom Environmental who have developed innovative products designed to give a second life to shot dust waste streams.

Landfill disposal and traditional recycling methods for steel shot dust are challenging for many reasons:

1. Material Handling Inefficiency: Landfills and scrap yards are becoming more particular about the waste streams they choose to accept. The dusty nature and packaging of shot dust in drums is becoming less attractive.

2. Low Melt Recovery: Traditionally, steel mills have used briquettes made from steel shot dust as a feedstock. However, due to low melt recovery of these briquettes and the additional energy required, mills have moved away from these products.

3. Energy Intensity:  Recycling steel shot dust often requires significant energy input for processes such as melting and purification, making it less economically viable compared to recycling larger pieces of steel.

4. Volume and Collection: Collecting and handling small amounts of steel shot dust from various sources can be logistically challenging and may not always justify the costs involved in recycling.

Wisdom Environmental is the country’s leading recycler of steel shot dust because we look at this material through a different lens, as an ingredient used in the production of our SteelCrete concrete, which is used to create pre-cast concrete products, including bunker blocks, bin blocks and landscaping hardscape products. For more information on how to partner with Widsom, visit our Shot Dust Recycling and Wisdom SteelCrete pages.