Shredded scrap is magnetically separated iron and steel from a fragmentiser, sold as a furnace-ready ferrous grade. In seaborne emails it is usually ISRI 211. It is the main alternative to HMS in electric-arc programmes: denser, more homogeneous, and produced from end-of-life vehicles, unprepared steel and sheet rather than from sheared demolition beams.
Yards that run a shredder also lift a non-ferrous fraction. That fraction is not shredded steel. It is Twitch or Zorba, depending on the sort. Mixing the two streams is how both get regraded.
What shredded scrap is
A fragmentiser (shredder) breaks bulky ferrous feed into fist-sized pieces, then uses magnets, air and sometimes eddy-current or sensor lines to pull iron and steel from the rest. The ferrous product is the shredded scrap mills buy. Density, residual copper, dirt, moisture and particle size are the arguments on the contract.
Under ISRI nomenclature, 211 is the denser, homogeneous, magnetically separated grade most often quoted on export, in the region of 1,120 kg/m³ in the circular’s denser shredded description. 210 is the lighter twin. European domestic mills may also use local names, but a trader offering into Turkey or South Asia will still write 211 or “shredded” with a copper cap.
Feedstock is typically end-of-life vehicles, appliances, light mixed steel and unprepared HMS. The machine does the size reduction that a shear does for heavy melting steel. The mill is buying a consistent charge, not plate cut to a box.
How it differs from HMS and busheling
HMS is obsolete wrought iron or steel cut to charging size, specified by thickness and piece dimensions (200 and 204, often sold 80/20). Shredded is fragmentiser output. Calling shredded “HMS” to chase an HMS 80/20 index is a mis-description. Calling HMS “shredded” because it was sheared small is the same error.
Busheling (ISRI 207) is new factory clippings and stampings, not old auto bodies. It is a premium industrial ferrous grade. Shredded from cars will not assay as busheling. Copper from wiring and motors is the residual that separates a clean 211 parcel from a problem cargo. Mills set a copper limit because it stays in the steel.
Dirt, rubber, plastic, aluminium and sealed units that survive the magnet line come off the weight or the grade. Moisture in shredded can be a larger share of the ticket than on heavy plate. The contract should say how moisture is treated.
Why mills buy it
Electric-arc furnaces use shredded because it charges quickly, densifies in the basket and gives a repeatable melt when the copper and dirt are inside the spec. Many Turkish and South Asian programmes take both HMS 80/20 and shredded; the spread between them moves with availability and with finished-steel margins. In 2025–26, European export still clears a large ferrous surplus into those melts.
Domestic EU mills buy shredded as well, often on EU ferrous specs rather than on 211. The physical product is the same idea: fragmentiser steel, magnetically clean, furnace-ready. Prices follow the melt, freight and the copper penalty, not a single poster number for “steel scrap”.
The shredder is also how the recycling cycle turns a car into several lots: ferrous shredded, aluminium Twitch, mixed non-ferrous Zorba, and sometimes stainless-rich Zurik. Each lot has a buyer. The ferrous mill does not want the Zorba; the remelter does not want the 211.
What to write on a shredded lot
State shredded or ISRI 211 (or 210 if that is the density). Add tonnes, bulk or packed, load port or city, and a copper residual if you have an analysis. Do not offer it as HMS. Do not include the non-ferrous belt product in the ferrous weight.
If the plant also has Twitch or Zorba, list those separately. Verified companies can post on live lots or answer wanted; request access if you have fragmentiser output or a furnace programme.
Shredded scrap is fragmentiser steel, usually 211 on export. It is specified by density, cleanliness and copper, and it is sold next to HMS, not as HMS.