A new draft GECA standard for steel and steel products is now available for public comment.
The Steel and Steel Products (SSPv.1.0-2019) standard seeks to define good environmental performance benchmarks for steel and steel products throughout their entire life cycle.
The scope of the standard includes the extraction of raw materials, the production of steel as well as refinement processes, such as coating or galvanising of steel products. Steel products can pose a significant environmental burden during their manufacture, use and disposal. These environmental aspects include, but are not limited to the energy use and the ensuing carbon emissions during production.
The following steel products are covered by this standard: Slabs, plates, hot rolled coil plates, cold rolled coil, billets, structural beams and columns, hollow pipes, rolled hollow sections, flat angles and channels, reinforcement bars, hot rolled coil round bar, steel wire, rails, galvanised steel products, coated steel products, assembled steel products.
Other environmentally innovative steel products that do not fit the above categories may be considered for certification provided the product fulfils the requirements of any relevant sections of this standard. Other categories may be added at a later date.
The steel industry is a major contributor to worldwide carbon emissions. Hazardous chemicals in the steel production, galvanising and coating processes need to be managed to minimise the risks of emissions to soil, air and water.
The steel industry is known for a high recycling rate, as recycled steel can maintain a high material quality. This has led to significant energy efficiency gains over the years. The main production routes are the blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace on the one hand and the electric arc furnace, which melts recycled steel scrap to form new steel, on the other hand. There are steel producers in Australia, but the majority of steel is imported from a range of overseas countries.
GECA welcomes comments on the standard from the public and industry professionals until 10 June. A draft copy of the standard is available here.
Please submit comments and feedback to standards@geca.org.au or +61 (2) 9699 2850.
