Drawing over 500,000 spectators and living up to its claim to fame as “The Greenest Show on Grass,” the Waste Management Phoenix Open is the PGA Tour’s best-attended event. Three-time WM Phoenix Open champion Phil Mickelson and Arizona State’s standout Jon Rahm, along with Tony Finau, Si Woo Kim, Brendan Steele, and other big names are set to tee up January 29-February 4 at TPC Scottsdale. With a total of 132 competitors, every player will try their shot at a $6.9 million purse, the $1,242,000 first-place check, and 500 FedExCup points. The PGA event raised over $8 million for charities in 2015, and that amount grows every year.
The Waste Management Phoenix Open is deemed as the trailblazer of sustainable events, and fittingly, partnered with Recover for official event merchandise beginning this year. Every decision in planning the event makes a difference, especially when deliberately acting as an example for other sporting events and venues to “green the games.” The WM Phoenix Open continues to improve its sustainability efforts year after year, and in 2018 will take things full circle by partnering with Recover. The new license between the PGA Tour and Recover affords the opportunity for the WM Phoenix Open to sell merchandise made from 100% recycled materials. Given the events zero waste initiatives, the partnership is a perfect fit.
Along with the Thunderbirds, Waste Management plans and puts on this enormous sustainable event. The company is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America, and through its subsidiaries, it provides collection, transfer, disposal services, and recycling and resource recovery. In fact, Recover gets most of the recycled plastic bottles it uses in its comfortable performance wear, which adds a full circle element to the new partnership.
On the sustainability front, the event is something to aspire to, and every year looks for ways to innovate improvements. In 2012, Waste Management launched the Zero Waste Challenge at the Open, controlling event materials and educating attendees so that zero waste was sent to the landfill. The event has since succeeded in meeting its challenge by typically recycling 49%, composting 36%, using 10% for waste to energy, and donating 5%... which literally yields zero waste left for the landfill. At the event, there are no trash bins on the course, only recycling and composting, and the event is organized to only make and allow waste that can be disposed as such. In addition, over 30,000 pounds of unused, perishable food from the WMPO has been donated locally, and WM has worked with Habitat for Humanity ReStore to donate over 25,900 pounds of mesh scrim, carpet, turf, and vinyl fence signage, most of which WM had reused outdoors since the 2010 event.
The WM Phoenix Open shares the foundations of Recover’s mission of environmentally friendly, socially responsible, inspirational and educational tenets. Fully incorporating social responsibility, in addition to donating millions to charities, the Open also incorporates youth involvement and the CBS Outdoor Special Olympics Open that provides opportunities for differently-abled and disabled individuals to participate in WM Phoenix Open activities.
Truly leading the way in green sports events and the sustainability movement, the WM Phoenix open will again create a potent impact and statement about what is possible this January 29-February 4. Be sure to check out the new Recover apparel at the PGA Tour WM Phoenix Open, as one swing at a time, the only way to get to a sustainable tomorrow is to work together today.
