Advanced Drainage Systems wins Wisconsin recycling award

Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. (ADS), based in Hilliard, Ohio, has received the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources 2020 Recycling Excellence Award for Innovation. ADS products are used in the stormwater and on-site septic wastewater industries, providing drainage solutions for construction, agriculture and road projects.

Brad Wolbert, director of the Bureau of Waste and Materials Management for the state of Wisconsin says the company is being recognized for its performance in a recycling program that exceeded the Department of Natural Resources expectations and provided a higher standard of service. 

“This is indeed a great honor,” says ADS Executive Vice President of Product Management and Marketing Brian King. “We have developed and have continued to refine the methods for incorporating postconsumer recycled plastics into our pipe and other products. This on-going effort has led to ADS being one of the largest users of recycled plastic and last year we used a total of 550 million pounds of postconsumer and postindustrial plastic. In Wisconsin alone, we purchased nearly 7.5 million pounds. To put it in perspective, our ADS Mega Green pipe containing 60-percent-recycled content would translate to 1.1 million linear feet of 24-inch diameter pipe with this discarded material from Wisconsin. Based on information from the Association of Plastic Recyclers, there is also a savings of more than 2 million kilograms of carbon emissions.

“Our products actually increase the short shelf life of bottles, caps and everyday household product containers so that they are productive for more than 100 years – the projected life span of our products," King adds of the high-density polyethylene items the company recycles. 

“ADS' focus on water management is also our commitment to helping the environment by finding innovative solutions that protect Earth’s most precious resource, water,” says Scott Barbour, ADS president and CEO.  “Systems using our products maintain and improve water quality, and our stewardship of the environment starts at the factory floor by using recycled and scrap materials. This award from the state of Wisconsin recognizes ADS’ core beliefs and that is why it is so very gratifying to receive it.”