Reporting on Our Fiscal 2024 Sustainability Progress

We are thrilled to share our Fiscal 2024 Sustainability Report, highlighting another year of progress we’ve made on our sustainability priorities. Water is the world’s most precious resource, and as an industry leader in water management solutions, Advanced Drainage Systems (“ADS”) is committed to protecting and managing water by providing sustainable water management solutions.

Sustainability is core to our business – in addition to do our solutions playing a critical role in safeguarding the environment, we recognize the importance of sustainable business practices to the long-term success of our business.

Fiscal Year 2024 Achievements in Sustainability and Ethical Practices

Our Fiscal 2024 Sustainability Report highlights a number of achievements in our sustainability and ethical practices. These include new milestones for our business and figures demonstrating our progress against our goals.

Two of the milestones highlighting our sustainability achievements over the last year were:

• We instituted a supplier code of conduct, providing a framework for our suppliers to maintain the highest ethical standards in conducting business.
• Additionally, we implemented a biodiversity policy to serve as a comprehensive outline for implementing the conservation and advancement of biodiversity into ADS’ operations.
  

In addition to those milestones, we’re proud of the progress we’ve made against our goals:

Sustainability and Environmental Issues Remain Core to Our Business

We recognize the importance of our sustainability commitments as we use our industry leadership to help mitigate accelerating environmental issues, such as the growing impact of climate-related water events.

The last several years have shown a secular trend of large-scale, water-related climate events increasing in frequency, duration, and intensity. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, there were 27 large-scale storm events in 2023, costing an estimated $88 billion.

These severe storms, hurricanes, floods, and droughts have devastating consequences for our communities. In light of all this, it’s not surprising that stormwater management remains a concern for many Americans.

Earlier this fiscal year, ADS surveyed a representative group of American adults and found that over half of the respondents are concerned about the stormwater management infrastructure in their communities. One out of five experienced flooding in their homes.

The survey also made clear that Americans are not just worried about protecting their homes, but also ensuring stormwater management practices are environmentally sustainable and improving quality of life in their communities.

As storms increase in frequency and intensity, and climate patterns continue to change, our role in water management has never been more critical to:

• Reduce flooding
• Recharge aquifers
• Improve food security
• Mitigate the risk of water scarcity
• Ensure quality of life in communities

ADS’ solutions provide for safe and efficient stormwater management with products that have a lower carbon footprint than competing products and allow communities to be resilient in both planning for the future and recovering from major storm events.

Recycling is a Sustainability Differentiator

At ADS, not only are we focused on delivering effective water management solutions; we are also creating water management solutions that are environmentally sustainable. As one of the largest plastic recyclers in North America, we remove over half a billion pounds of recycled plastic from the waste stream each year, incorporating it into products designed to last decades.  

The amount of recycled plastic we consumed in Fiscal 2024 reduced our Greenhouse Gas emissions by over 660 million pounds, which amounts to taking 63,000 cars off the road.

We are continually working to increase our usage of recycled material, with the goal of reaching one billion pounds purchased annually by Fiscal 2032, nearly doubling the amount of recycled plastic we purchase today. Not only is using recycled plastic an economically viable solution, but it also lowers our lower carbon footprint. 

Learn more about the great work ADS is doing to integrate sustainability throughout the business, reduce our environmental impact and increase our positive contributions to society.

Enhancing Transparency and Rigor in Tracking Sustainability Progress

At ADS, we recognize that as our business grows and changes, how we hold ourselves accountable to tracking progress against our sustainability commitments must, as well.  

To that end, this updated report includes new disclosures on our advancements, waste management, landfill diversion, and materials used in our products. Additionally, for the first time this year we placed even greater rigor behind our sustainability reporting by seeking and receiving limited assurance on our reported scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions.

We have made significant progress in recent years and challenge ourselves to identify areas for continuous improvement.