Revenue - Additional Information (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Feb. 28, 2023	Aug. 31, 2022
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Receivables from contracts with customers, net of allowance for credit losses	$ 238	$ 230
Percentage of receivables from contracts with customers of accounts receivable	99.00%	97.00%
Contract liabilities	$ 9	$ 8

Percentage receivables from contracts with customers net, of total accounts receivables as of the balance sheet date.

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	schn_
Data Type:	dtr-types:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount, after allowance for credit loss, of right to consideration from customer for product sold and service rendered in normal course of business, classified as current.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 2
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=124259787&loc=d3e4428-111522

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 9
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=124259787&loc=d3e4531-111522

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of obligation to transfer good or service to customer for which consideration has been received or is receivable.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=126919976&loc=SL49130531-203044

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 8
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=126920106&loc=SL49130549-203045

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 2
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=126919976&loc=SL49130532-203044

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration