Taking forward its commitment of giving back to the community, Tata Steel inaugurated ‘ Feet First – Noamundi Footwear Upcycling Centre ‘ at Noamundi today. Ms Poonam Chaudhary, spouse of Mr Chanakya Chaudhary, Vice President (Raw Materials), Tata Steel graced the occasion as Chief Guest.

‘Feet First’ is a footwear upcycling centre, where people can donate discarded footwear in all shapes and sizes and the centre will refurbish footwear for sale at nominal price.  In a one of its kind initiative in collaboration with GreenSole and Lions Club of Noamundi, Tata Steel is putting its best foot forward to carry forward its ‘Best Out of Waste’ initiative at Noamundi.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Chaudhary said: “A simple noble act can impact thousands of lives. ‘Feet First’ is a wonderful initiative by Tata Steel and GreenSole. This will not only create awareness on upcycling of discarded goods but will also make people of the community contribute towards a social cause.”

Built over an area of 1500 square feet, the centre houses dyes, clicking machine, sole patting machine, heating machine, grinding machines and sewing machines costing approximately Rs 28 lakhs. Around 1000 to 1500 footwear will be upcycled into slippers every month. Apart from upclycling footwear, the centre will provide skill development training to interested people in and around Noamundi. This initiative targets Sustainable Development Goal 8 of promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

About GreenSole
GreenSole is a Mumbai based organisation which contributes to the social good, by creating a self-sustaining infrastructure that facilitates the provision of the basic necessity of footwear to everyone, forever, environmental good, by refurbishing discarded shoes with zero carbon footprint and economic good by giving employment to refurbish shoes.

About Tata Steel
Tata Steel Group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 27 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) as on March 31, 2018. It is the one of world's most geographically-diversified steel producers, with operations in 26 countries and a commercial presence in over 50 countries. The Group recorded a consolidated turnover of US $20.41 billion (INR 133,016 crore) in FY18. Tata Steel Group is spread across five continents with an employee base of nearly 74,000. Tata Steel retained Industry Leader position in FY18 and ranked second overall in the DJSI assessment, 2017. The Company has been recognised as the Climate Disclosure Leader in ‘Steel category’ by CDP (2017). Besides being a member of the World Steel Climate Action Programme, Tata Steel was felicitated with several awards including the Prime Minister’s Trophy for the best performing integrated steel plant for 2014-15 and 2015-16, Best Risk Management by CNBC TV18 (2018) and ‘Corporate Strategy Award’ by Mint (2018). The Company also received the ‘Most Ethical Company’ award from Ethisphere Institute for the sixth time (2018), Steel Sustainability Champions (2017) by the World Steel Association, Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Awards (2017 & 2018), Golden Peacock HR Excellence Award by Institute of Directors (2017) as well as 'Asia's Best Integrated Report' award by the Asia Sustainability Reporting Awards (2017), among several others.

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