'Waste To Wealth': NHAI Uses Steel Slag In Highway Construction On Trial Basis

In line with the union government’s ‘Waste to Wealth’ mission and encouraging environmentally sustainable national highways construction, trial use of ‘steel slag’ in road construction has been initiated by NHAI.

Steel slag, a by-product of steel making, is produced during the separation of the molten steel from impurities in steel-making furnaces.

This initiative will help address the challenge of shortage of material used in development of the national highways, and could replace natural aggregates such as sand, gravel, or crushed stone with the waste material from the steel industry.

In order to construct India’s first Pavement Quality Concrete (PQC) with steel slag, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) started trials for its possible use in road construction.

The results from the trial are said to have been encouraging.

NHAI has been encouraging the innovative use of new alternative materials like plastic waste, building and construction waste etc. and the road constructed by use of steel slag is an example of its initiative to convert 'waste into wealth'.

Use of such material in road construction will make construction more economical and will promote circular economy and resource efficiency, the statement said.