The WM zero waste approach to the stormy Phoenix Open of Phoenix in the sports world – Ottumwacourier

Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP)-The famous PHOENIX Open 16th Hole is one of the unique spectacles in golf, where normal pagan sports is released with stadium-style seats, deafening music and enthusiastic VERSCTOR, Introducing Players this is more WWE than PGA Tour.

It is safe to say that being an environmental conscience is not the first thing in the minds of fans.

After all, there is usually a lot of waste when thousands of people are lost a little.

But the tournament – which has been sponsored by waste management over the last 16 years – is unlikely an incubator for ideas on how to facilitate major sporting events for Mother Nature. It has been certified as an event with zero waste from UL Solutions in the last 12 years.

“This is a lot of our laboratory,” said Lee Spivak, who is the director of the WM consulting team. “We will try an idea, try an approach to a customer. We will then scale it here and take it to other customers. “

The success of WM in the fact that Phoenix has opened an event with zero waste has made the company a hot goods in the sports world. Spivak said WM already has a partnership with PGA Tour, Baseball Major League and approximately 15 Ballparks, giving practical tips on how to reduce the garbage, even if certain places are not fully ready to go with zero waste. They also work with different teams in NFL, NBA and NHL.

The idea is whether environmental ideas can work this week of a debaured atmosphere of TPC Scottsdale, they can work almost anywhere.

This is a tournament that attracts 200,000 fans of the course on a good day, much more than even the NFL stadium. The zero waste setting is massive: there are 4,800 recycling and compost bins, 29 large compactors and 30 tanks for recurring ice for re -use in portable toilets of the tournament this week, and the process is controlled by 85 WM employees Day and 600 temporary workers.

WM says more than 750 tonnes of recycled materials were collected at last year’s event. Even temporary building materials – things like grass and skeleton – are reused, with 238 tonnes donated to local organizations.

“Everything has to be brought to the course and then everything has to be taken out of the course,” said Ashley Hite on WM, which runs several golf tournaments. “Where stadiums can make small gradual changes over the years, each year we get a new shot (on golf courses).”

On the 16th hole of Phoenix Open, concessions are served in paper cups and eaten with bamboo forks, while alcohol and wine bottles are recycled and turned into reusable glass vessels through a local supplier. Over the years, some ideas have worked better than others.

Doug Janison has been the director of special events for culinary concepts and has been working with WM for several years, adapting his null waste strategy. He said the process had gone a long way from the days of thick plastic slabs and heavy napkins.

“It’s a developing process,” Janison said. “No lids, no straws, no sleeves for a coffee cup. This is a temporary event, six days, you have to be rough. “

Janison was joking for the “rough” part. The food is still very good at the event with stewed pork ribs and pulled the chicken among the proposals of the 16th hole.

Some menus ideas have fallen to the road because of the zero waste-shake approach are difficult to drink with paper straws-but other items such as Soft Serve Ice Cream are fine substitutes.

In the end, WM and its partners say that the benefits of Phoenix Open zero waste exceed any of the negatives. Spivak said the hope is that the tournament can show fans of sports and other companies that the more environmentally friendly approach can work and become normal.

“When they start to care, the pulsation effect of the influence does not really end,” said Spivak. “It’s just getting bigger and bigger. This is the pride I feel in this tournament. “

AP GOLF:

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material cannot be published, emitted, rewritten or redistributed without permission.