In the interest of sustainable operations, as a company strives to have the minimum impact on the environment and society, profitability may be sacrificed. There is a cost in almost every action that reduces the negative effects of human economic activity. There are sometimes direct economic benefits, other than the improved image of the company and all the side benefits that a responsible producer might have, but there is a threshold point beyond which it no longer makes economic sense to invest in, i.e., energy efficiency measures or water conservation measures.
In the metals production and fabrication business, however, there is an activity that can improve both profitability and sustainability: metals recycling.
There is value in that scrap—enough value to keep the whole collection and recycling chain happy and to incentivise everyone, especially as primary production becomes more expensive and we constantly have to dig deeper to get poorer ores, on an energy—and metal-hungry growing planet.
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