How Formosa Plastics Is Nurturing Biodiversity in Texas

In 2020, the team at the Formosa Agricultural and Environmental Research Center, located at the site of the company’s Texas plant, began concurrent production of honeybees, native flowering plants and native trees as part of an effort to enrich the area’s biodiversity.

Sponsored Content | / This article is sponsored by Vinyl Sustainability Council | By Vinyl Sustainability Council | Published 3 years ago | About a 2 minute read

Image: Curtis Short

At Formosa Plastics Corporation USA, environmental responsibility is a core guiding principle. As a vertically integrated supplier of plastic resins and petrochemicals, the company owns and manages extensive land holdings near the Formosa Plastics Corp. Texas plant site in Point Comfort, Texas. Among these holdings are the Formosa Agricultural and Environmental Research Center (AERC) and the 200-acre Formosa-Tejano Wetlands, both of which were established in the 1990s.

Monarch and milkweed

The AERC was the vision of Formosa founder Y.C. Wang and has conducted research to explore strategies for environmentally friendly agriculture. Over the last six years, that focus has evolved in response to changes in the environment and Formosa Plastics’ growing involvement in sustainable land use.

“It started in 2015 when the AERC entered into a partnership with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to grow milkweed plants that could attract monarch butterflies and help restore the species’ declining numbers,” said Curtis Short, lead scientist at the AERC. “Milkweed is the only plant monarch butterflies consume; and our initial goal was to produce enough plants to provide food plots on Formosa properties, as well as providing plants to the USFWS for distribution to other organizations. This original project became the catalyst for a completely different operational strategy at the AERC. We quickly moved from basic soil science research and into applied land resource management.”

To date, the AERC has produced upwards of 3,200 plants, many of which have been donated to other environmental organizations in south Texas.

Bees and trees

As one square in the environmental sustainability matrix, Formosa Plastics developed a long-term sustainability goal which was a perfect fit for the AERC: “Reforestation applications to provide wildlife [and] pollinator habitat and increase rainfall interception while capturing carbon…”.

In 2020, the AERC team began investigating strategies for concurrent production of honeybees (pollinators), native flowering plants (nectar sources) and native trees (carbon sequestration and improved rainfall interception).

The team began beehive construction and identified a site for placement of the hives such that nectar plants could be established on the site periphery. Coincidentally, Formosa Plastics staff were approached with a proposal from a local Agriculture Sciences teacher about the possibility of partnering with the company in a honeybee propagation project at the AERC.

“We jumped at the opportunity to partner with the school district in setting up apiaries.” Short said. “Although our primary goal remains that of creating more pollinator activity here, the opportunity to support and facilitate environmental education is a nice bonus.”

Local pollinators, as well, seem to be excited about Formosa Plastics’ environmental initiatives. In mid-June, Short discovered a hulking swarm of bees busily establishing residence in one of the hives, apparently having decided to make the Formosa Plastics AERC its new home.

It sure looks like things are starting to hum around here.

Read more about Formosa's biodiversity efforts here.