ECONOMICAL – The products can give more cost-efficient cover and economy in the number of sheets or bars, or the volume of steel needed to efficiently reinforce the structure and meet the design intent of the project.

ENVIRONMENTAL – OneSteel’s manufacturing of reinforcing steel utilises energy reducing Polymer Injection Technology (PIT) and recycled steel scrap content.

OneSteel has introduced a number of initiatives in recent years to assist with more sustainable use of materials

The majority of OneSteel’s reinforcing bar and reinforcing mesh has been made from recycled scrap for many years – OneSteel announced on 10th June 2009 that the overall percentage of post-consumer recycled content (FY2008 average) was 89% for reinforcing bar and 66% for reinforcing mesh.

OneSteel announced on 1st May 2010 that OneSteel’s improved energy-efficient steel making process Polymer Injection Technology (PIT), used at the Rooty Hill Sydney and Laverton Melbourne electric arc furnaces has allowed OneSteel to achieve an average 66% of reinforcing rod for mesh and 82% of reinforcing bar produced using this technology. In operating this technology as standard practice at OneSteel’s Rooty Hill and Laverton Steel Mills, there is potential to recycle more than 285,000 passenger tyres per annum.

OneSteel Reinforcing is supporting customers to have projects gain up to two Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) Green Star Steel credits with enhanced capability to provide off site optimal fabrication of reinforcing steel used in the building structure.

ECO-BAR™ products include:

• 500PLUS® BAMTEC® – Engineered reinforcing bar carpets can allow the size and positioning of reinforcing steel to be optimised with variable diameters and spacings.
• 500PLUS® PREFAB – Prefabricated reinforcement is a more efficient process that can be designed to generate less waste and scrap on site.

ECO-MESH™ products include:

• ONEMESH® MADE-TO-SIZE and UTEMESH®
• Customised special run ONEMESH® can minimise duplication of reinforcing steel and scrap losses that result from excess lapping and trimming of mesh sheets.
• Engineered and tailored mesh solutions can include variable wire spacing and wire diameters and ductilities, and optimised mesh size (length and width).
• Examples are the new UTEMESH® and the extra large (up to 9 m x 3m) ONEMESH® MADE-TO-SIZE sheets which give more cost-efficient cover and economy in the number of sheets used on projects.

ECO-REO™ products include:

• TRUSSDEK® – Like reinforcing bar carpets and special meshes, TRUSSDEK® panels can reduce lapping and steel intensity and also serves as a permanent formwork system, thereby eliminating other formwork and the need for backpropping.
• Spacing between TRUSSDEK® panels can be optimised to reduce material, and concrete savings due to voiding of TRUSSDEK® panels can be significant.
• The volume of the steel reinforcing bars or mesh in a TRUSSDEK® slab can be up to 60% of that used in a conventional one-way reinforced-concrete slab.
• TRUSSDEK® panels can span up to 8.5 metres, which in steel framed buildings can potentially lead to the complete elimination of the secondary steel beams.

Supporting information for specific OneSteel Reinforcing ECOREO ™ products is available at www.reinforcing.com in the ‘Technical Resources’ section.