2019 Recycling Industry Yearbook

Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. 12 TRADE BENEFITS OF RECYCLING Recycled commodities are among the nation’s largest exports by value. In 2018, the United States exported 40.4 million mt of commodity-grade scrap valued at $20 billion to buyers in more than 150 countries around the world. Only 30% of U.S. scrap gets exported, but these exports create approximately 50,543 direct U.S. jobs at scrap processors and brokers and 47,240 U.S. jobs for suppliers of products and services to scrap exporters. Those wage-earners indirectly support another 62,869 jobs, for a total of 160,652 jobs resulting from recyclers’ export activities. Global demand for U.S. scrap is good for the envi- ronment for several reasons. Manufacturers substitute it for virgin materials such as ores, fossil fuels, and trees, and doing so saves energy and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. U.S. scrap exports also contribute to the U.S. trade balance, with a net positive impact of $245 billion since 2000. And exports provide a useful outlet for excess domestic scrap supply. Worldwide, manufacturers consume more than 900 million mt of scrap, which meets 40% of global industrial raw-material needs. Approximately 180 million mt of that total comes from international trade. Thus the United States’ 40.4 million mt of exported scrap meets more than 22% of global demand for scrap imports. CUMULATIVE IMPACT OF U.S. SCRAP EXPORTS ON THE U.S. TRADE BALANCE SINCE 2000 (billions of dollars) $0 $50 $100 $150 $200 $250 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Billions Source: U.S. Census Bureau/U.S. International Trade Commission