ADS issues FY25 sustainability report

Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. (ADS), a manufacturer of a wide range of water management products headquartered in Hilliard, Ohio, recently issued its 2025 sustainability report, highlighting a number of accomplishments during the 2025 fiscal year.

In terms of environmental impact reduction, the company reports it received validation of its science-based targets from the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), aiming to achieve a 50.4 percent reduction of its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and a 30 percent reduction in its Scope 3, Category 1 emissions in line with a 1.5 degrees Celsius trajectory. The company also received limited assurance on fiscal year 2025 Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions and developed a Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan to guide its climate strategy.

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Socially, the company reports more than $1.2 million in charitable giving through the ADS Foundation and, operationally, it says it achieved a total recordable incident rate of 1.96—39 percent lower than the average among its industry in the United States.

“At Advanced Drainage Systems, our reason is water, and we’re committed to delivering sustainable solutions that protect and manage water resources,” ADS President and CEO Scott Barbour says. “I’m proud to share how our team has continued to develop solutions in fiscal 2025 that help communities nationwide build resiliency and safeguard the environment.”

The company, also considered one of the largest plastic recyclers in the U.S. with its focus on postconsumer and postindustrial mixed-color high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP), notes a number of recycling-relate accomplishments in the past year. In October 2024, for example, the company opened its Engineering and Technology Center in Hilliard, a 110,000-square-foot facility where its team focuses on product development, testing operations and manufacturing engineering development that includes the use of recycled content.

In its report, ADS also touts the start of construction on a $30 million expansion of its Cordele, Georgia, recycling facility that will expand the facility’s total size to 117,000 square feet and increase its ability to provide recycled material to its factories in the Southeast U.S. The facility upgrade includes an on-site laboratory and is expected to create as many as 50 new jobs. In all, ADS operates nine recycling facilities spread across the U.S.

In fiscal year 2025, the company reports it purchased 501 million pounds of recycled material, a decrease from the 540 million pounds it bought in 2024. However, 50.2 percent of the company’s plastic pipe revenue was derived from recycled-content products. ADS also says it consumed 30 percent of the recycled pigmented HDPE bottles in the U.S. during the year.

“We continue to integrate sustainable practices into our own operations,” Barbour says. “In particular, the opening of our new Engineering and Technology Center will enable ADS to further develop our materials science capabilities to improve our use of recycled plastics, and our newly drafted Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan allows us to better predict and plan for climate-related risks and opportunities in the years ahead. I am confident that we have the right tools at hand to further develop our sustainability impact.”