Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)	9 Months Ended
May 31, 2020
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Basis of Presentation	Basis of Presentation The accompanying Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements of Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. and its majority-owned and wholly-owned subsidiaries (the “Company”) have been prepared pursuant to generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial information and the rules and regulations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) for Form 10-Q, including Article 10 of Regulation S-X. The year-end condensed consolidated balance sheet data was derived from audited financial statements, but does not include all disclosures required by U.S. GAAP. Certain information and note disclosures normally included in annual financial statements have been condensed or omitted pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC. In the opinion of management, all normal, recurring adjustments considered necessary for a fair statement have been included. Management suggests that these Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2019. The results for the three and nine months ended May 31, 2020 and 2019 are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations for the entire fiscal year.
Segments	Segments The Company’s internal organizational and reporting structure includes two operating and reportable segments: the Auto and Metals Recycling (“AMR”) business and the Cascade Steel and Scrap (“CSS”) business.
Accounting Changes	Accounting Changes As of the beginning of the first quarter of fiscal 2020, the Company adopted an accounting standards update, initially issued in February 2016, that requires a lessee to recognize a lease liability and a lease right-of-use asset on its balance sheet for all leases greater than 12 months, including those classified as operating leases. The update supersedes the previous lease accounting standard. The Company adopted the new lease accounting standard using the modified retrospective transition method, whereby it applied the new requirements by recognizing a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings as of September 1, 2019. Such cumulative-effect adjustment for the Company was not material. Adoption using the modified retrospective transition method did not have an impact on any prior period earnings of the Company, and no comparative prior periods were adjusted for the new guidance. The Company elected a package of practical expedients permitted under the transition guidance within the new lease accounting standard, which among other things, permit carrying forward the historical lease classification. The Company also elected the practical expedient exempting short-term leases from balance sheet recognition, whereby payments for such leases are recognized in the income statement on a straight-line basis over the lease term. In addition, the Company elected the practical expedient to not separate lease and non-lease components, which the Company elected to apply to all classes of underlying assets. Adoption of the new standard resulted in recognition of $126 million and $128 million of operating lease right-of-use assets and liabilities, respectively, as of September 1, 2019, which are presented as separate line items on the balance sheet. Operating lease right-of-use assets are considered long-lived assets subject to existing long-lived asset impairment guidance. Adoption also resulted in the reclassification of the Company’s capital lease assets and obligations as finance lease right-of-use assets and liabilities as of September 1, 2019, with such reclassification having no impact on the carrying amounts or financial statement line items within which the leases are reported. See Note 3 - Leases for the disclosures required under the new standard.
Cash and Cash Equivalents	Cash and Cash Equivalents Cash and cash equivalents include short-term securities that are not restricted by third parties and have an original maturity date of 90 days or less. The Company’s cash equivalents consist entirely of bank money market funds. Cash and cash equivalents totaled $308 million and $12 million as of May 31, 2020 and August 31, 2019, respectively, with the increase primarily reflecting cash generated from borrowings under the Company’s credit facilities in the third quarter of fiscal 2020. Included in accounts payable are book overdrafts representing outstanding checks in excess of funds on deposit of less than $1 million and $27 million as of May 31, 2020 and August 31, 2019, respectively. The decrease in book overdrafts primarily reflects the significant increase in funds on deposit at certain financial institutions.
Accounts Receivable, net	Accounts Receivable, net Accounts receivable represent amounts primarily due from customers on product and other sales. These accounts receivable, which are reduced by an allowance for doubtful accounts, are recorded at the invoiced amount and do not bear interest. The Company extends credit to customers under contracts containing customary and explicit payment terms, and payment is generally required within 30 to 60 days of shipment. Nonferrous export sales typically require a deposit prior to shipment. Historically, almost all of the Company’s ferrous export sales have been made with letters of credit. Ferrous metal sales, nonferrous metal sales and finished steel sales to domestic customers are generally made on open account, and a near majority of these sales are covered by credit insurance. The Company evaluates the collectibility of its accounts receivable based on a combination of factors, including whether sales were made pursuant to letters of credit or credit insurance is in place. In cases where management is aware of circumstances that may impair a customer’s ability to meet its financial obligations, management records a specific allowance against amounts due and reduces the receivable to the amount the Company believes will be collected. For all other customers, the Company maintains an allowance that considers the total receivables outstanding, historical collection rates and economic trends. Accounts are written off when all efforts to collect have been exhausted. Also included in accounts receivable are short-term advances to scrap metal suppliers used as a mechanism to acquire unprocessed scrap metal. The advances are generally repaid with scrap metal, as opposed to cash. Repayments of advances with scrap metal are treated as noncash operating activities in the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows and totaled $7 million and $12 million for the nine months ended May 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
Other Assets	Prepaid Expenses The Company’s prepaid expenses, reported within prepaid expenses and other current assets in the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets, totaled $26 million and $23 million as of May 31, 2020 and August 31, 2019, respectively, and consisted primarily of deposits on capital projects, prepaid insurance, prepaid services and prepaid property taxes. Other Assets The Company’s other assets, exclusive of prepaid expenses, consist primarily of receivables from insurers, spare parts, an equity investment, debt issuance costs, and notes and other contractual receivables. Other assets are reported within either prepaid expenses and other current assets or other assets in the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets based on their expected use either during or beyond the current operating cycle of one year from the reporting date. Receivables from insurers totaled $5 million and $89 million as of May 31, 2020 and August 31, 2019, respectively, with the decrease in the first nine months of fiscal 2020 resulting primarily from full payment by the Company’s insurers of settlements for lawsuits arising from a 2016 motor vehicle collision. See “Contingencies – Other” in Note 5 – Commitments and Contingencies for further discussion of this matter. The Company invested $6 million in the equity of a privately-held waste and recycling entity in fiscal 2017. The equity investment does not have a readily determinable fair value and, therefore, is carried at cost and adjusted for impairments and observable price changes. The investment is presented as part of the AMR reportable segment and reported within other assets in the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. The carrying value of the investment was $6 million as of May 31, 2020 and August 31, 2019. The Company has not recorded any impairments or upward or downward adjustments to the carrying value of the investment since its acquisition.
Asset Impairment Charges	Asset Impairment Charges During the nine months ended May 31, 2020, the Company recognized asset impairment charges of $4 million, which are reported separately in the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and relate primarily to abandonment of obsolete machinery and equipment assets, accelerated depreciation due to the shortening of the useful lives of certain metals recovery assets and the closure of an auto parts store in the AMR reportable segment.
Concentration of Credit Risk	Concentration of Credit Risk Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to significant concentration of credit risk consist primarily of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, and notes and other contractual receivables. The majority of cash and cash equivalents is maintained with major financial institutions. Balances with these and certain other institutions exceeded the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insured amount of $250,000 as of May 31, 2020. Concentration of credit risk with respect to accounts receivable is limited because a large number of geographically diverse customers make up the Company’s customer base. The Company controls credit risk through credit approvals, credit limits, insurance, letters of credit or other collateral, cash deposits and monitoring procedures. The Company is exposed to a residual credit risk with respect to open letters of credit by virtue of the possibility of the failure of a bank providing a letter of credit. The Company had $72 million and $49 million of open letters of credit as of May 31, 2020 and August 31, 2019, respectively.
Credit Facilities	Credit Facilities On June 30, 2020, Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. (the “Company”) and certain of its subsidiaries entered into the Second Amendment (the “Second Amendment”) to its Third Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, dated as of April 6, 2016, as amended by the First Amendment to Third Amended and Restated Credit Agreement dated as of August 24, 2018, by and among the Company, as the US Borrower, Schnitzer Steel Canada Ltd., as a Canadian borrower, Bank of America, N.A., as administrative agent and the other lenders party thereto (the “Existing Credit Agreement”). The Existing Credit Agreement, as amended pursuant to the Second Amendment, is referred to herein as the “Amended Credit Agreement”. The principal changes to the Existing Credit Agreement effected by the Second Amendment are (i) the reduction of the consolidated fixed charge coverage from a minimum ratio of 1.50 to 1.0 to a minimum ratio of 1.20 to 1.0 for the fiscal quarter ending August 31, 2020, and to a minimum ratio of 1.10 to 1.0 for the fiscal quarters ending November 30, 2020, February 28, 2021 and May 31, 2021, and (ii) the introduction of a minimum consolidated asset coverage ratio of 1.00 to 1.0 for each of the fiscal quarters ending August 31, 2020 through May 31, 2021. The Second Amendment revised the applicable interest rates under the facility which are based, at the Company’s option, on either (i) LIBOR (or the Canadian equivalent for C$ loans) plus a spread of between 1.25% and 3.50%, with the amount of the spread based on a pricing grid tied to the Company’s consolidated funded debt to EBITDA ratio, or (ii) the greater of the prime rate, the federal funds rate plus 0.50% or the daily rate equal to one-month LIBOR plus 1.75%, in each case, plus a spread of between 0.00% and 2.50% based on a pricing grid tied to the Company’s consolidated funded debt to EBITDA ratio. In addition, commitment fees are payable on the unused portion of the credit facilities at rates between 0.20% and 0.50% based on a pricing grid tied to the Company’s consolidated funded debt to EBITDA ratio. The Second Amendment further provides for (i) revisions to the definition of LIBOR to include a 0.50% floor and (ii) mechanics by which the parties may replace the benchmark interest rate used in the agreement from LIBOR to one or more rates based on the secured overnight financing rate (“SOFR”) administered by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Unchanged by the Second Amendment, the Amended Credit Agreement provides for $700 million and C$15 million in senior secured revolving credit facilities maturing in August 2023. As of May 31, 2020 and August 31, 2019, borrowings outstanding under the credit facilities were $420 million and $97 million, respectively.

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

May 31, 2020

The accompanying Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements of Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. and its majority-owned and wholly-owned subsidiaries (the “Company”) have been prepared pursuant to generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial information and the rules and regulations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) for Form 10-Q, including Article 10 of Regulation S-X. The year-end condensed consolidated balance sheet data was derived from audited financial statements, but does not include all disclosures required by U.S. GAAP. Certain information and note disclosures normally included in annual financial statements have been condensed or omitted pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC. In the opinion of management, all normal, recurring adjustments considered necessary for a fair statement have been included. Management suggests that these Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2019. The results for the three and nine months ended May 31, 2020 and 2019 are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations for the entire fiscal year.

Segments

The Company’s internal organizational and reporting structure includes two operating and reportable segments: the Auto and Metals Recycling (“AMR”) business and the Cascade Steel and Scrap (“CSS”) business.

Accounting Changes

As of the beginning of the first quarter of fiscal 2020, the Company adopted an accounting standards update, initially issued in February 2016, that requires a lessee to recognize a lease liability and a lease right-of-use asset on its balance sheet for all leases greater than 12 months, including those classified as operating leases. The update supersedes the previous lease accounting standard. The Company adopted the new lease accounting standard using the modified retrospective transition method, whereby it applied the new requirements by recognizing a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings as of September 1, 2019. Such cumulative-effect adjustment for the Company was not material. Adoption using the modified retrospective transition method did not have an impact on any prior period earnings of the Company, and no comparative prior periods were adjusted for the new guidance. The Company elected a package of practical expedients permitted under the transition guidance within the new lease accounting standard, which among other things, permit carrying forward the historical lease classification. The Company also elected the practical expedient exempting short-term leases from balance sheet recognition, whereby payments for such leases are recognized in the income statement on a straight-line basis over the lease term. In addition, the Company elected the practical expedient to not separate lease and non-lease components, which the Company elected to apply to all classes of underlying assets. Adoption of the new standard resulted in recognition of $126 million and $128 million of operating lease right-of-use assets and liabilities, respectively, as of September 1, 2019, which are presented as separate line items on the balance sheet. Operating lease right-of-use assets are considered long-lived assets subject to existing long-lived asset impairment guidance. Adoption also resulted in the reclassification of the Company’s capital lease assets and obligations as finance lease right-of-use assets and liabilities as of September 1, 2019, with such reclassification having no impact on the carrying amounts or financial statement line items within which the leases are reported. See Note 3 - Leases for the disclosures required under the new standard.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include short-term securities that are not restricted by third parties and have an original maturity date of 90 days or less. The Company’s cash equivalents consist entirely of bank money market funds. Cash and cash equivalents totaled $308 million and $12 million as of May 31, 2020 and August 31, 2019, respectively, with the increase primarily reflecting cash generated from borrowings under the Company’s credit facilities in the third quarter of fiscal 2020. Included in accounts payable are book overdrafts representing outstanding checks in excess of funds on deposit of less than $1 million and $27 million as of May 31, 2020 and August 31, 2019, respectively. The decrease in book overdrafts primarily reflects the significant increase in funds on deposit at certain financial institutions.

Accounts Receivable, net

Accounts receivable represent amounts primarily due from customers on product and other sales. These accounts receivable, which are reduced by an allowance for doubtful accounts, are recorded at the invoiced amount and do not bear interest. The Company extends credit to customers under contracts containing customary and explicit payment terms, and payment is generally required within 30 to 60 days of shipment. Nonferrous export sales typically require a deposit prior to shipment. Historically, almost all of the Company’s ferrous export sales have been made with letters of credit. Ferrous metal sales, nonferrous metal sales and finished steel sales to domestic customers are generally made on open account, and a near majority of these sales are covered by credit insurance.

The Company evaluates the collectibility of its accounts receivable based on a combination of factors, including whether sales were made pursuant to letters of credit or credit insurance is in place. In cases where management is aware of circumstances that may impair a customer’s ability to meet its financial obligations, management records a specific allowance against amounts due and reduces the receivable to the amount the Company believes will be collected. For all other customers, the Company maintains an allowance that considers the total receivables outstanding, historical collection rates and economic trends. Accounts are written off when all efforts to collect have been exhausted.

Also included in accounts receivable are short-term advances to scrap metal suppliers used as a mechanism to acquire unprocessed scrap metal. The advances are generally repaid with scrap metal, as opposed to cash. Repayments of advances with scrap metal are treated as noncash operating activities in the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows and totaled $7 million and $12 million for the nine months ended May 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Other Assets

Prepaid Expenses

The Company’s prepaid expenses, reported within prepaid expenses and other current assets in the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets, totaled $26 million and $23 million as of May 31, 2020 and August 31, 2019, respectively, and consisted primarily of deposits on capital projects, prepaid insurance, prepaid services and prepaid property taxes.

Other Assets

The Company’s other assets, exclusive of prepaid expenses, consist primarily of receivables from insurers, spare parts, an equity investment, debt issuance costs, and notes and other contractual receivables. Other assets are reported within either prepaid expenses and other current assets or other assets in the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets based on their expected use either during or beyond the current operating cycle of one year from the reporting date. Receivables from insurers totaled $5 million and $89 million as of May 31, 2020 and August 31, 2019, respectively, with the decrease in the first nine months of fiscal 2020 resulting primarily from full payment by the Company’s insurers of settlements for lawsuits arising from a 2016 motor vehicle collision. See “Contingencies – Other” in Note 5 – Commitments and Contingencies for further discussion of this matter.

The Company invested $6 million in the equity of a privately-held waste and recycling entity in fiscal 2017. The equity investment does not have a readily determinable fair value and, therefore, is carried at cost and adjusted for impairments and observable price changes. The investment is presented as part of the AMR reportable segment and reported within other assets in the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. The carrying value of the investment was $6 million as of May 31, 2020 and August 31, 2019. The Company has not recorded any impairments or upward or downward adjustments to the carrying value of the investment since its acquisition.

Asset Impairment Charges

During the nine months ended May 31, 2020, the Company recognized asset impairment charges of $4 million, which are reported separately in the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and relate primarily to abandonment of obsolete machinery and equipment assets, accelerated depreciation due to the shortening of the useful lives of certain metals recovery assets and the closure of an auto parts store in the AMR reportable segment.

Concentration of Credit Risk

Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to significant concentration of credit risk consist primarily of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, and notes and other contractual receivables. The majority of cash and cash equivalents is maintained with major financial institutions. Balances with these and certain other institutions exceeded the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insured amount of $250,000 as of May 31, 2020. Concentration of credit risk with respect to accounts receivable is limited because a large number of geographically diverse customers make up the Company’s customer base. The Company controls credit risk through credit approvals, credit limits, insurance, letters of credit or other collateral, cash deposits and monitoring procedures. The Company is exposed to a residual credit risk with respect to open letters of credit by virtue of the possibility of the failure of a bank providing a letter of credit. The Company had $72 million and $49 million of open letters of credit as of May 31, 2020 and August 31, 2019, respectively.

Credit Facilities

On June 30, 2020, Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. (the “Company”) and certain of its subsidiaries entered into the Second Amendment (the “Second Amendment”) to its Third Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, dated as of April 6, 2016, as amended by the First Amendment to Third Amended and Restated Credit Agreement dated as of August 24, 2018, by and among the Company, as the US Borrower, Schnitzer Steel Canada Ltd., as a Canadian borrower, Bank of America, N.A., as administrative agent and the other lenders party thereto (the “Existing Credit Agreement”). The Existing Credit Agreement, as amended pursuant to the Second Amendment, is referred to herein as the “Amended Credit Agreement”. The principal changes to the Existing Credit Agreement effected by the Second Amendment are (i) the reduction of the consolidated fixed charge coverage from a minimum ratio of 1.50 to 1.0 to a minimum ratio of 1.20 to 1.0 for the fiscal quarter ending August 31, 2020, and to a minimum ratio of 1.10 to 1.0 for the fiscal quarters ending November 30, 2020, February 28, 2021 and May 31, 2021, and (ii) the introduction of a minimum consolidated asset coverage ratio of 1.00 to 1.0 for each of the fiscal quarters ending August 31, 2020 through May 31, 2021.

The Second Amendment revised the applicable interest rates under the facility which are based, at the Company’s option, on either (i) LIBOR (or the Canadian equivalent for C$ loans) plus a spread of between 1.25% and 3.50%, with the amount of the spread based on a pricing grid tied to the Company’s consolidated funded debt to EBITDA ratio, or (ii) the greater of the prime rate, the federal funds rate plus 0.50% or the daily rate equal to one-month LIBOR plus 1.75%, in each case, plus a spread of between 0.00% and 2.50% based on a pricing grid tied to the Company’s consolidated funded debt to EBITDA ratio. In addition, commitment fees are payable on the unused portion of the credit facilities at rates between 0.20% and 0.50% based on a pricing grid tied to the Company’s consolidated funded debt to EBITDA ratio.

The Second Amendment further provides for (i) revisions to the definition of LIBOR to include a 0.50% floor and (ii) mechanics by which the parties may replace the benchmark interest rate used in the agreement from LIBOR to one or more rates based on the secured overnight financing rate (“SOFR”) administered by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Unchanged by the Second Amendment, the Amended Credit Agreement provides for $700 million and C$15 million in senior secured revolving credit facilities maturing in August 2023. As of May 31, 2020 and August 31, 2019, borrowings outstanding under the credit facilities were $420 million and $97 million, respectively.