Stressing the new implication that sustainability advocates have created for the traditional St. Patrick's Day color, the American Iron & Steel Institute seized an opportunity just prior to March 17 to trumpet the ‘green’ contribution of North American steel producers. In an outline of the industry's green value proposition to end users, for example, the Institute noted how continuously reinforced concrete pavements are structurally supported by steel rebar and help to improve fuel efficiency in large vehicles.

Among other observations on members' environmental management gains or end-product benefits, AISI reports: 1) Steel is 100 percent recyclable and today's product, on average, contains 75 percent of old scrap; 2) Almost all of the water used in steel making is recycled and filtered up to 100 times before discharge, exiting mills cleaner than when it entered them; 3) Scrap from mills or manufacturing plants where steel is shaped and cut is always recycled in new steel batches; 4) New technologies under development may lead to carbon dioxide emission-free production of iron, a major element in steel; 5) the American steel industry is 240 percent ahead of the Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal; and, 6) the North American steel industry is helping convert former steel plants, dubbed brownfield sites, for commercial use or as wildlife habitat.