Tata Steel on Wednesday dispatched its first-ever consignment of Tata Aggreto, the company’s branded steel slag aggregate, to Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for construction of roads in Arunachal Pradesh.

The consignment was dispatched from Tatanagar Station in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, by the steel major 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,” a release issued by the company said.

The first rake of Tata Aggreto was virtually flagged off by Union minister of science and technology Jitendra Singh, and physically by Tata Steel vice-president (iron making) Uttam Singh along with director of CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) Manoranjan Parida, principal scientist of CSIR-CRRI Satish Pandey and director of works planning, Project Arunak, Col. Naveen Kumar Sah.

“The slag we are now sending to BRO for building roads in Arunachal Pradesh is a great example of how the 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 and applications,” said Uttam Singh.

He further said: “We are happy to note that 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.”

Significantly, 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 maximise 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 a first-of-its-kind accelerated weathering facility through steam aging at both Jamshedpur and Kalinganagar (in Odisha) for processing of steel slag,” said a company spokesperson.

Tata Aggreto has been extensively used in construction of National Highways, state highways, city and rural roads in Jharkhand and Odisha. Steel slag improves durability and reduces the cost of building roads.

“A stretch of NH33 is India’s first National highway constructed using the processed steel slag. Over 40 km stretch of NH33 has been constructed utilising nearly 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,” the spokesperson said.

Tata Steel’s Industrial By-products Management Division will be supplying 1,200 tonnes of processed steel slag aggregates to the BRO project in Arunachal Pradesh. The success of this initiative will open new avenues for sustainable utilisation of steel slag in road construction near border areas.