The U.S. is setting a strong example that the U.K. must follow as it presses ahead with steel recycling and gives a boost to its domestic steelmaking industry, says the executive chairman of Liberty House Group.
"It's not rocket science to imagine that to recycle something is more competitive than to make it from scratch," Sanjeev Gupta told CNBC at the Platts Global Metals Awards on Thursday, noting that most energy and technology has already gone into the creation of the original product.
"It has the great added advantage that it's environmentally-friendly and has a much lower carbon footprint compared to making primary steel," he added, before highlighting the success the U.S. has had in turning domestic scrap into steel and then selling the latter domestically.
"That is an infallible model because it doesn't carry price risks, it's not subject to the volatility of commodity prices and you are fundamentally adding value always because scrap prices very closely follow steel prices," he continued, blaming the U.K.'s failure to mimic the success to date on the lack of attention the government has paid to industry generally in recent decades.