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World consumption of stainless steel has been tracing a steady upward curve for many years thanks to increasing use in a broad range of sectors, including the construction, automotive, health, environmental and transport industries, as well as household and catering products such as kitchen appliances and cutlery. This versatile alloy offers a remarkable range of positive properties, including a high strength-to-weight ratio, good aesthetics, and extreme resistance to corrosion, wear and heat.
 The fact that global production of stainless steel now exceeds 24 million tonnes per annum underlines the importance to producers of obtaining a steady supply of quality secondary material. Stainless steels stem from alloying combinations with elements such as nickel and chromium. The basic grades of stainless steel form an important part of a much broader family of alloys designed to provide optimum performance under severe environmental and chemical conditions, along with remarkable strength and stability at high temperatures. Tungsten, molybdenum, cobalt, titanium and vanadium are among the major alloying metals used to meet the toughest demands made by engineers in the aerospace, chemical and other high-performance industries. Like nickel and chromium, these metals are costly and occur in limited mine deposits in only a few parts of the world. Recycling is therefore essential in maintaining the flow of vital secondary raw materials to this burgeoning production sector.
 Since many of these alloys are very similar in appearance, substantial expertise and sophisticated technology are employed to separate and prepare each type for remelting, including the use of X-ray spectrometry and other high-cost identification techniques.
Some of the remelting processes employed depend on extremely high levels of purity in the secondary material, and scrupulous processing by the recycler is therefore essential.
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