Ashland’s commitment to environmental conservation and stewardship via collaboration with Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC), a non-profit, non-lobbying organization, dates back to over a decade with the implementation of environmental conservation projects at several sites.  

WHC’s certification program is the only voluntary sustainability standard designed for biodiversity enhancement and conservation education activities on corporate lands.  Our work with WHC improves the environmental and social impacts of the company’s operations on our communities.

The WHC sites include former landfills that have been closed, active manufacturing facilities, and former manufacturing facilities – each has been turned into conservation projects.  These efforts align with Ashland’s global sustainability initiatives and Responsible Care® goals.

Common projects include: creation of habitat such as grasslands, wetlands, water bodies, forests, and meadows; encourage native plants and animals to use habitats; installation of nesting boxes for birds, bats, and pollinators; and species monitoring with surveys and cameras.

Ashland has partnered with many organizations to support WHC projects. Recent partnerships have included Rutgers University, Boy Scouts of America, and Delaware Nature Society.

Ashland’s conservation efforts expanded in 2022 with the addition of three new sites to the existing WHC program portfolio, for a total of seven certified sites. Five sites have achieved gold certification and two sites are certified silver. 

plant site wildlife habitats

plant site certifications

The following highlights several of our current and past projects:

10 years of Changzhou Greenland Preservation

In 2005, Ashland started a preservation effort of 20,000 square meters (about 5 acres) of lawn in Changzhou, China. After 10 years, this lawn has become a park of dense trees. Recently, Ashland celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Greenland preservation efforts in Changzhou, a token to continue its commitment to an eco-friendly environment.

partnering on projects with Wildlife Habitat Council for more than 20 years

Partnering with the Delaware Center for Horticulture and the University of Delaware College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, more than 50 Wilmington, Del., employees participated in a two-day event to create a wildlife habitat at the Wilmington office location. The project involved almost a year of planning and preparation. Employees planted more than 160 plants and trees, and work is ongoing as the site strives to achieve certification through the WHC’s Corporate Wildlife Habitat Certification/International Accreditation Program.

remediation sites receive certification

In 2014, four former Ashland remediation sites achieved certification through the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC), a nonprofit, non-lobbying organization dedicated to increasing the quality and amount of wildlife habitat on corporate, private and public lands.

Sites that achieved certification were: the Wilmington Research Center Landfill in Wilmington, Del.; the Vertac site in Jacksonville, Ark.; the Brunswick site in Brunswick, Ga.; and the Old York Road Landfill in Burlington, N.J.

Employees at Ashland are working closely with Rutgers University to provide educational opportunities to students in the sciences to track species diversity and life cycles at the Old York Landfill in Burlington, N.J. Ashland has also worked with the Delaware Center for Horticulture to establish the employee wildlife habitat planting area at the Wilmington campus.