Stainless steel is highly recyclable. Domestic users can recycle it through existing kerbside collections and municipal recycling centres, while industrial users can recover much of its value through commercial recycling services.
Domestic recycling
Many domestic applications use lower-cost ferritic grades. Because these are magnetic, they can be separated from the waste stream along with regular carbon steel.
Industrial recycling
Stainless steel contains expensive alloying elements - particularly nickel, but also chromium - which give it an inherent value far greater than ordinary scrap steel. Industrial processors, fabricators and machinists use commercial services to recycle their stainless steel arisings and retain more of that value.
The recovered steel is redirected to foundries and larger steel producers to make new stainless steel products. Great care is taken to segregate different grades at the point of arising, which allows more ready re-use.