2013 Waste Management Phoenix Open Sets Sustainability and Environmental Responsibility Milestones
Waste Management efforts drive tournament to achieve
The 2013 Waste Management Phoenix Open diverted 100 percent of tournament waste away from landfills and into recycling and composting facilities, as part of the tournament’s Zero Waste Challenge.
In addition, the 2013 Waste Management Phoenix Open earned UL
Environment’s landfill waste diversion, or “Zero Waste to Landfill”
claim validation. UL Environment, a business unit of UL (
“One hundred percent diversion,
"The Waste Management Phoenix Open is by far the biggest and most
complex event to have achieved certification from the
“Waste Management is clearly committed to reducing the environmental
impact of waste, and has taken that mission a step further by extending
it to a major sporting event,” said
The Zero Waste Challenge, an initiative aimed at controlling materials brought into the event and educating vendors and patrons about proper disposal of materials, produced significant results at the 2013 Waste Management Phoenix Open. Waste Management (WM) strives to minimize the tournament’s waste generation making the tournament the “Greenest Show on Grass.” Highlights of these efforts include:
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Recycling
Plastics, including HDPE and PET, aluminum, paper, cardboard, glass, and metal were sent to WM’sArizona Community Ecocenter Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) and strategic recyclers for processing.
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Composting
Food, napkins, plates and paper cups used during the tournament were sent to the Maricopa Organics Recycling Facility to process the materials into compost. The facility is a collaboration between WM and Garick, a strategic venture in which WM has a majority ownership interest. Wood from the event was also sent to the facility to be turned into compost.
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Waste-to-Energy
Scrim and carpet were sent to a company that recovers the energy and mineral components from waste for use as fuel, and for product additives used in manufacturing processes. This conserves fossil fuels and natural mineral resources and diverts the materials from landfills.
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Donation/Reuse
The approximately 140,000 used golf balls filling the WM water feature on the 18th hole lake were donated to theJunior Golf Association of Arizona . The WM water feature on the 15th hole lake incorporated 750,000 golf tees made from 100-percent recycled content. These tees were maintained and will be reused at the 2014 Waste Management Phoenix Open.
The recycling and waste-to-energy efforts at the 2013 Waste Management Phoenix Open conserved the following resources:
- 536 mature trees
- 526 cubic yards of landfill airspace
- 420,900 kilowatt-hours of electricity
- 300,300 gallons of water
Recycling, composting and waste-to-energy efforts avoided 243 metric tons (MTCO2E) of greenhouse gas emissions.
Waste Management’s sustainability services team continually looks for
ways to advance the sustainable efforts of the company’s premiere
A case study video on the 2013 Waste Management Phoenix Open is posted
on Waste Management’s
ABOUT WASTE MANAGEMENT
Waste Management, based in
Source: Waste Management
Waste Management
Media
Lynn Brown, 713-394-5093
lynnbrown@wm.com
or
Janette
Coates, 480-457-4702
jcoates@wm.com