Matters of steel

Some in the steel industry would have us believe that the large amounts of air pollution caused by their activities is not their fault. They resort to blaming the sub-standard quality of the fuel that they are provided with. However, steel cannot be melted at the desired temperatures using gas and oil furnaces. Hence, most steel mills, particularly the larger ones, operate using electric furnaces. So they cannot pin their polluting activities on substandard fuels.

Rather, the cause is more likely to be their use of low-quality scrap metal, which can be obtained cheaply and thus keeps profit margins high. A way to counteract the high levels of pollution the use of scrap metal generates is to employ dust collectors or to use modern rolling practices which do not emit pollutants.

Engr Asim Nawab

Islamabad