he Gerdau Group is one of the largest recyclers in the Americas. Every year, we reuse 10 million metric tons of scrap in steel production. This contributes to cleaner cities, since the volume of waste metal sent to the sanitary landfills is reduced. It also generates jobs for the collection of this raw material, through an extensive chain of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs.

In 2005, the Group intensified its recycling work by installing two shredders at steel mills in Brazil: Gerdau Açonorte (state of Pernambuco) and Gerdau São Paulo (São Paulo). Each one of these state-of-the-art devices has the capacity to process the equivalent to 750,000 small vehicles per year.

Consisting of a crusher grinder, conveyor belts and dust removal and non-ferrous material separation systems, the Shredder grinds and cleans the scrap. Another shredder will be installed in 2006 at Gerdau Riograndense, the unit located in the city of Sapucaia do Sul (state of Rio Grande do Sul).