CMC 2025 Sustainability Report
  1. Environmental
  2. Environmental Stewardship
  3. Water and Waste Management
air quality intro

Air Quality

  • 3-3 Management of material topics

We recognize the potential impacts our operations have on the environment, including air quality. Our strategic positioning in scrap-based EAF steelmaking technology means our operations produce fewer air emissions than the industry sector. CMC strictly follows all air regulations and annually tracks emissions from nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, lead, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter. While our EAF mills are closely regulated under federal Clean Air Act permitting requirements, we are motivated to continue reducing our air emissions to minimize our impact. We are confident that the best opportunity to do this lies in our relentless pursuit of energy and raw material efficiency and we continually look for new and innovative technologies to reduce our emissions. We believe that low emissions and efficient operations go hand in hand and have found that as we improve our operational and energy efficiency, emissions decrease as well.

  • 3-3 Management of material topics
Environmental Footprint (Air Quality) Unit 2025 2024 2023
Nitrogen oxides (NOX) MT 860 821 857
Sulfur oxides (SOOX) MT 483 461 488
Carbon dioxide (CO2) MT 1,080,286 1,031,419 1,008,944
Methane (CH4) MT 136 132 127
Nitrous oxide (N2O) MT 0.74 0.68 0.80
Carbon monoxide (CO) MT 4,442 4,634 4,203
Lead (Pb) kg 1,282 1,043 1,184
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) MT 286 220 209
Particulate matter (PM) MT 372 378 344
waste intro

Waste

  • 3-3 Management of material topics

CMC recognizes the importance of mitigating the environmental impacts of its operations beyond carbon emissions. Our environmental strategy additionally focuses on responsibly managing water and reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills.

CMC’s initiatives to reduce waste sent to landfills include recycling metals that can be used as raw materials for new products in a variety of industries. Our shredding and scrap recycling processes separate ferrous material that contains iron from non-ferrous metals such as copper, brass and aluminum. These nonferrous metals are then recycled for use as raw materials for new products used in industries like construction, automotive and aviation.

We capture and recycle coproducts and byproducts in our manufacturing operations, such as steel slag used by construction companies as a base material in highways, asphalt and other products. We also capture and recycle 99% of the baghouse dust from our EAF furnaces, with zinc and other valuable metals in the dust used to create paints, tire rubber and fertilizers.

  • 3-3 Management of material topics
Environmental Footprint (Waste & Co-Products) Unit 2025 2024 2023
Total waste & co-products MT 1,072,531 1,027,687 1,026,133
Total hazard waste MT 68,185 62,101 62,313
   Percent total waste % 6.36% 6.04% 6.1%
Total waste recycled % 85.6% 88.4% 88.6%
Total waste landfilled % 14.4% 11.4% 11.4%
Significant spills reported # 0 0 1
water intro

Water

  • 3-3 Management of material topics

Given that water is a scarce natural resource, we focus on recycling water at our facilities and responsibly treating water prior to discharge. We comply with all applicable laws and regulations regarding water use and discharges, including the Clean Water Act in the U.S.

Our facilities recycle water multiple times throughout our steelmaking process and the total rate of water recycled in our operations is over 91%, with 5 of our 10 steel mills being zero water discharge facilities. CMC’s water withdrawal intensity level, measured by the amount of water brought into the process per metric ton of steel produced, is just 13% of the steel industry average.

  • 3-3 Management of material topics
Environmental Footprint (Water) Unit 2025 2024 2023
Total water withdrawn m3 6,546,004 6,288,566 6,354,847
   Water withdrawn from public inlet m3 2,351,360 2,283,959 2,115,803
   Water withdrawn from ground water (private well) m3 3,221,087 2,829,560 2,842,069
   Water withdrawn from surface water (stream) m3 973,557 1,175,047 1,396,975
Total water discharge m3 1,500,008 1,566,222 2,164,199
Total water consumption m3 5,045,997 4,732,344 4,190,648
Total water withdrawn intensity m3/MT 1.16 1.18 1.18
Water that is recycled or reused
multiple times 		% 91% 91.0% 90.1%
Total water withdrawn in high or extremely
high baseline stress area 		m3 3,116,814 1,778,847 2,610,138
Water withdrawn in high or extremely
high baseline stress area 		% 48% 28% 41%
Total water consumed in high or extremely
high baseline stress area 		m3 2,812,737 1,695,705 2,104,272
Water consumed in high or extremely
high baseline stress area 		% 56% 36% 50%

Water Use

water splash background
water usage cycle

Goal

Decrease our water withdrawal
intensity by 8%

Water Withdrawal Intensity (m3 / MT )

In 2025, we experienced a water withdrawal intensity of 1.9% over the 2019 baseline.

We recognize that water is a valuable natural resource and our facilities recycle water multiple times throughout our process. The total rate of water recycled in our operations is over 91%, with 5 of our 10 steel mills being zero water discharge facilities. Our water withdrawal intensity level, measured by the amount of water brought into the process per metric ton of steel produced, is just 4% of the steel industry average. We comply with all applicable laws and regulations regarding water use and discharges, including the Clean Water Act in the United States.

Current Progress Towards Goal

2025 2024 2023

Results

0.7%

increase
since 2019*

Based on 2019 baseline value of 1.152 m3/MT.

Water Withdrawal Intensity

87%

lower than the industry average

Water Withdrawal Intensity

(m3 / MT )

CMC Total² Industry Average¹

Results

96%

lower

1 Industry averages taken from the World Steel Association 2020 Water Management policy paper
2 CMC data is 2024 water withdrawal intensity.

land intro

Land Use

We are a leading global recycler of steel and our operations support a circular economy by reducing scrap metal sent to landfills, saving approximately 16 billion pounds of scrap metal from being landfilled annually. CMC’s recycling facilities collect end-of-life material from individuals, commercial companies and scrap yards, along with pre-consumer scrap from manufacturing facilities, all of which is processed to be used as raw material at our steel mills. By using recycled steel as our raw material, we also avoid mining and extracting virgin raw materials, which helps to lower potential risks to biodiversity.