The quality of scrap has a great impact on the technical and economic indicators of steelmaking, and the source of scrap is often very mixed, so the management and processing of scrap is very important. The scrap steel should be carefully checked before entering the furnace, and it should be strictly prevented from mixing with closed utensils, explosives and toxic substances, and pay attention to preventing the mixing of lead, zinc, tin, copper and other non-ferrous metals. In addition, the mud sand, refractory materials and slag brought into the scrap should be minimized.

Alloy steel waste should be carefully grouped according to the alloying elements contained in it and kept separately, so as to be used for smelting corresponding alloying steel by electric furnace return method, recycling alloying elements and reducing the cost of steel. For scrap steel with large dimensions and single weight, it should be disassembled and cut in advance so that it can be smoothly loaded into the furnace, without damaging the furnace lining and accelerating melting. The light material should be packed or pressed to shorten the loading time.

Light materials with particularly serious corrosion and oil stains should not be used for return smelting. In recent years, domestic and foreign steel plants using electric arc furnace have developed rapidly. Because the required scrap steel is mainly purchased from domestic or foreign countries, and the purchased scrap steel is often mixed with various residual alloying elements, making the smelting of many kinds of steel difficult. Therefore, sponge iron, which is reduced by iron ore at a lower temperature, is being promoted as a raw material for EAF steelmaking instead of scrap steel.