Does Practice of Ocean Dumping Recycle Old Steel Or Just Litter?

South Carolina has created more than 40 offshore artificial reefs in the waters off of its coast. The artificial reefs are popular destinations for recreational anglers and divers.

South Carolina’s offshore artificial reefs are made of scrap. Steel-hulled vessels are the most commonly used material in reef construction, but other recycled scrap materials include steel and concrete bridges, New York City subway cars, concrete culvert pipe, steel dry dock work platforms, and US Army tanks.

While proponents hail this as a green use of scrap metal, detractors claim it is wanton waste of steel that no country outside of the U.S. would consider wise. However, several other nations, including Malaysia, Brazil, Jordan, and Israel use a similar method of creating reefs from junk.