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Recycling to Surpass Mining by 2050

Recycling Industry to Surpass Mining by 2050, Says Tata Steel MD

Tata Steel MD and CEO T V Narendran has forecast that the recycling industry will eclipse mining in scale and value by 2050, marking a watershed moment for sustainable industry.

Speaking at a session hosted by the Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) during its platinum jubilee celebrations, Narendran emphasised that while mining has been pivotal over the past century, recycling is poised to take the lead in the coming decades

“Managing by-products, adding value from waste and recycling will become bigger and bigger… even Tata Steel is going into recycling because, we believe that by 2050, the recycling industry will become bigger than the mining industry,” he said

Narendran also highlighted Tata Steel’s Industrial By-products Management Division (IBMD), boasting an impressive turnover of ₹10,000 crore, as evidence of the company’s growing footprint in the recycling domain

He further pointed to burgeoning opportunities within “urban mining” — the extraction of critical minerals from electronic waste — as India lacks many of these resources domestically but remains a major consumer of electronics

Additionally, Narendran said Tata Steel is actively designing steel with recyclability in mind and integrating recycled materials into its production processes

This shift aligns with Tata Steel’s broader sustainability strategy. The company plans to produce 10–15 million tonnes of steel via recycling by 2040 and transition away from blast furnaces in Europe, furthering its goal of reducing carbon emissions

📈 In summary, Tata Steel is aligning its operations with the global transition from a linear to a circular economy. As recycling overtakes mining in scale, companies that can capitalize on by-product management, waste valorisation, and urban mining will likely emerge as leaders in the next industrial era.

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