Use of Re-claimed steel and compliance to EN 1090.
The need to consider the use of re-claimed material within the construction sector is a growing consideration due to the need to reduce our carbon emissions within the sector.
In the case of steel materials and the scope of BS EN 1090, the drive of the specifier/designer to use re-claimed material is increasing but the use of these materials must not be to the determent or risk of non-compliance for the fabricator when meeting the requirements of BS EN 1090-1 and BS EN 1090-2.
Currently, the wording of BS EN 1090-2 does not specifically identify the requirements of the standard with regard to the use of re-claimed steel and as a result differing interpretations are being published.
The use of re-claimed steel will depend on a very specific criteria being met.
The fabricator should identify the clients request to use re-claimed material at the tender / technical review stage.
At this point, it would be advised for the fabricator to seek clarification from their certifying body and RWC to ensure re-claimed materials could be used in any given specific situation as this requirement forms part of the project contract specification.
NOTE: Not all certifying bodies will accept re-claimed materials being used in all situations.
The risk of getting this wrong could be huge for the fabricator from both a contractual and certification non-compliance viewpoint.
Although there are papers/documents published stating re-claimed steel can be used under EN 1090, these documents are not issued by SG 17 or the certifying bodies and as a result must be read as guidance information not compliance documents.
EN 1090-1 is long overdue for revision and the latest release of EN 1090-2:2018+A1:2024 did not specifically address this issue.
3mj Consulting have produced an example document that identifies scenarios regarding the use of re-claimed steel and in each scenario, summary and finding against the standard.
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