OREANDA-NEWS. Every year, Gerdau transforms more than 15 million metric tons of scrap into steel, which positions the company as the largest scrap recycler in Latin America. The use of this raw material reduces the volume of material deposited in inappropriate places and reduces the consumption of energy as well as other natural resources in the steel production process, while minimizing emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2. Moreover, the collection and processing of scrap generate jobs over a long chain of small, medium and large entrepreneurs who live off of this activity.

Gerdau has been developing projects in partnership with the public sector in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru in order to further expand scrap collection in the regions where it operates and promote proper disposal of cars, trucks, and buses that are no longer in circulation. Besides contributing to the environment, these initiatives play an important socio-economic role, because they reduce the costs of governments with its storage, generate revenue from the sale of scrap, and also create new job opportunities in the processing of this raw material. Since 2010, when the project began, over 36,000 metric tons of scrap have already been recycled.

Gerdau is the leader in the segment of long steel in the Americas and one of the main suppliers of special long steel in the world. With over 45,000 employees, it has industrial operations in 14 countries—in the Americas, Europe, and Asia—which together represent an installed capacity of over 25 million metric tons of steel per year. It is the largest recycler in Latin America and in the world, and transforms each year millions of tons of scrap steel, reinforcing its commitment to sustainable development in the regions where it operates. Gerdau is listed on the stock exchanges of Sao Paulo, New York, and Madrid and has over 140,000 shareholders.