Recyclability of stainless steel railway vehicles

Abstract

Current trends in environmental issues mean that manufacturers are now required to take responsibility for the recycling of their products. In the railway industry, the recycling of mild steel vehicles has been carried out and recycling of aluminium vehicles has been tried and tested but not stainless steel vehicles. This paper describes a field test used to find out the recyclability of a stainless steel vehicle. The costs of disassembly and recycling for several types of vehicle are compared and it is demonstrated that the recycling of stainless steel vehicles is the cheapest.