Stainless Steel: Vi elal That Vatiers (NAPSA}—People interested in protecting the environment have found a friend in a durable metal that has more lives than your pet Tabby. Read on to learn why stainless steel is the cat’s meow. Stainless steel is 100 percent recyclable. Old sinks, broken toasters, and other stainless steel products facing the end of their useful lives are not buried in already crowdedlandfills, but turned inte scrap. The scrap iscollected and sold to stainless steel mills for processing. The newly processed material can then be used to make more stainless steel products or for other purposes. It is a eycle that is repeated again and again. In the manufacturing process, stainless steel smokestack “scrubbers” absorb pollutants that otherwise would be released into the atmosphere and contribute to acid rain andair pollution. Automobile manufacturers also depend on stainJess steel ta help keep the environment clean. Corrosion resistant stainless steel catalytic converters used in auto- mobiles effectively clean exhaust fumes, another raajor contributor to acid rain and air pollution. For industrial wastewater to be released without harming the environment, it must undergo a rigorous process of purification. One of the more effective methods of accomplishing this in- volves ozone treatment, which is made possible by stainless steel equipment. Stainless steel is also instrumental in a new process of sewage treatment requiring a high-temperature, highly corrosive contain- in its myriad of uses and applications, stainiess steel! is a friend of the environment. mentfacility. The sludge is oxidized in a deep-shaft reactor made out of stainless steel. Through the introduction of oxygen in the reactor, a self-activating oxidation process is initiated in which the organic components of the sludge are destroyed. Another deceptively simple benefit of staimless steel is that it cleans easily. Hot water and a mild cleansing solution are gener- ally all that’s needed. This is important because it means no harsh and potentially polluting detergents are released into our rivers andstreams. To learn more about safe, smart, sustainable stainless steel or to receive a free copy of the Designer Handbook, Stainless Steel: The Green Material, write: Speciality Steel Industry of North Arnerica, 8050 K Street, N.W., 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20007; call the toll-free number, 800-9820355; or visit the Specialty Steel Industry of North America Web site at wwu.ssina.com.
