If there is one message that our Division was relentless in pushing last year, it’s that “green steel” and recycling are indivisible; you cannot achieve the former without the latter. 

Indeed, BIR’s strong convictions on this subject were consolidated into a position paper published by our world body last July. While there is no universal definition of green steel, it is widely understood to refer to steel produced with low or near-zero carbon emissions based on carbon intensity measurements. And according to the BIR’s position statement, recycled steel maximisation across production methods offers the most immediate, commercially viable and sustainable route to producing low-carbon green steel. 

Defining the indivisible link between recycling and green steel

BIR has delivered this same message across a host of forums and stakeholder events, including through our co-operation with the OECD Steel Committee in its decarbonisation work. We have been consistent and demonstrative in our calls for policy-makers to recognise the role of recycled materials in global standards, trade policies and industrial strategies that support the transition to a sustainable steel industry. We have been emphatic in arguing that trade barriers to recycled steel are not only unnecessary but detrimental to wider sustainability goals. In essence, we need to ensure that every country has access to low-carbon production, and that some countries don’t decarbonise at the expense of others. 

In this context, it’s interesting to note that India was the second-largest steel producer last year on almost 165 million tonnes – effectively doubling the total of third-placed USA. But even more noteworthy for our trade, India was also the world’s second-highest recycled steel importer, with a year-on-year increase of 2.8% to more than 6.5 million tonnes in the first nine months of 2025. So restricting international flows of recycled steel would clearly have the potential to hamper green industrial growth in fast-developing economies.

Global trade as a driver for sustainable industrial growth

In 2026, we will continue to hammer home these crucial points, drawing factual support from an array of authoritative sources. These will include the comprehensive BIR/KPMG study on the environmental benefits of recycling, which will add very latest statistics to the wealth of data already quantifying our industry’s critical role. As noted at our May 2025 meeting in Valencia by Professor Dr Frank Pothen of the University of Applied Sciences in Jena, “using recycled steel brings us immense ecological benefits”.

Also at that meeting, we addressed the subject that cast a dark shadow over the entire trading year, namely tariff disputes. Michael Gaylard, Sims Metal’s Global Head of Ferrous Trade, explained some of the many business challenges raised by the implementation or mere threat of tariffs, not least an inability to plan with confidence.

Tariffs piled yet more pressure on our recycling sector at an already testing time owing to, among other factors, the trickle-down effects of weak demand for steel, a reduced supply of recycled steel, and rising costs – most notably for energy. 

Harnessing innovation: from fire safety to artificial intelligence

Another major concern for our sector, as revealed at our meeting in Bangkok, has been the increased incidence of yard fires caused by lithium batteries, with guest speaker Raghav Mecheri of Visia describing these events as nothing short of “scary”. At the earlier BIR Shredder Committee session in Valencia, George Adams of SA Recycling offered detailed practical advice on how to minimise and tackle such fires, including shipping to the ground and regular drills for employees. The same gathering also exemplified the breadth of subjects covered by our Ferrous and Shredder meetings, with Karl Hoffmann of Steinert and Manuel Andreis of Eriez Magnetics Europe illustrating how top equipment companies are constantly striving to boost our industry’s efficiencies and output quality.

If lithium batteries have become ubiquitous, so has artificial intelligence (AI). Our Ferrous Division recognised this by making AI the centrepiece of its discussions in Bangkok. Mr Mecheri of Visia explained his company’s combination of AI and X-ray technology to identify materials, while Sean Davidson of Jules AI described the fusion of AI, sensors and robotics as “the single biggest measurable commercial win” in terms of economic benefits, operational excellence and environmental/safety impacts. 

AI is already transforming the way we operate – from optimising plant efficiency and enhancing material quality to improving worker safety and facilitating data-driven trading decisions. As an industry, we have a proud reputation for innovation and for seizing new opportunities; to this end, AI offers the tools to create more efficient, cleaner and more competitive recycling operations, and its emergence is something we ignore at our commercial peril.