Jamshedpur: Tata Steel Wednesday dispatched the first ever consignment of Tata Aggreto, the company’s branded steel slag aggregates to Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for construction of roads in Arunachal Pradesh under Project Arunank. By supplying a value-added industrial by-product for road construction, Tata Steel has reiterated its commitment to building a more sustainable steel sector by adopting the principles of circular economy and has also pioneered in a nation building initiative, the company said.

The first rake of Tata Aggreto (branded Steel Slag Aggregates) was virtually flagged off by union minister for science & technology Dr. Jitendra Singh, and physically by Tata Steel vice president Iron Making, Uttam Singh, CSIR-CRRI director Manoranjan Parida,, Mr Rajesh Kumar, EIC IBMD Tata Steel Rajesh Kumar, and CRRI principal scientist Satish Pandey, Works Planning, Project Arunank director Col. Naveen Kumar Sah from Platform Number 4 at Tatanagar Railway station. Senior officials from BRO, Tata Steel, Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), Ministry of Steel, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India and NITI Aayog.

Dr V K Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, Dr N Kalaiselvi, Director General, CSIR, Lt. Gen. Rajeev Chaudhary, Director General, BRO were also connected virtually during the function.

Vice president Uttam Singh, said, “The slag we are now sending to BRO for building roads in Arunachal Pradesh is a great example of how circular economy works at Tata Steel. We are committed to deliver sustainable products having minimal ecological footprint by adopting newer technologies and developing new products & applications.” He further said that “We are happy to note that Border Roads Organization (BRO) under Arunank Division in association with CRRI will be constructing roads in Arunachal Pradesh and we are proud to partner in this pioneering initiative for nation building.”

With “Zero Waste” goal, Tata Steel has created a dedicated profit centre for by-products management – Industrial By-Product Management Division (IBMD) to ensure efficient by-products management. The by-products are processed to maximize their value so that they can be recycled or reused in various applications. In the year 2018, Tata Steel launched Tata Aggreto, India’s first branded product manufactured from processed steel slag. The introduction of this brand has been part of Tata Steel’s journey of excellence and value creation for its customers. Tata Steel has also commissioned first-of-its-kind accelerated weathering facility through steam aging at both Jamshedpur & Kalinganagar for processing of steel slag.

Tata Aggreto has been extensively used in construction of National Highways, State Highways, City and Rural Roads in Jharkhand and Odisha. NH33 is India’s first National highway constructed using the processed Steel Slag. Over 40 km stretch of NH33 has been constructed utilizing approx. a million tonnes of Tata Aggreto. In recognition of our efforts to promote Circular Economy, Tata Steel has received prestigious awards including and especially CII 3R award in 2020 and 2021, FICCI Indian Circular Economy award 2021, Most Innovative project award at CII National awards for Environmental Best Practices 2022.

Tata Steel’s Industrial By-products Management Division will be supplying ~1200 tonnes of processed steel slag aggregates to the BRO project in Arunachal Pradesh. The success of this initiative will open new avenues for sustainable utilization of Steel Slag in road construction near Border areas.