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Daily CSR
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WMPO Achieve Zero Waste Landfill Goal For The Third Time In A Row



09/22/2015

It has been the third time in a row that WMPO bagged the designation of zero waste to landfill achievement.


Dailycsr.com – 21 September 2015 – An announcement made by Waste Management revealed that the company has hundred percent prevented “tournament waste” from ending up as landfills in the “2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open”. This year has marked a hat-trick for achieving zero percent waste to landfill in the tournament.
 
Moreover, the “Sustainability Report” 2015 of WMPO also highlights that besides “achieving a zero waste validation”, the company has also brought in a significant improvement in the “overall sustainability results” of the tournament which comes out “at the ‘Greenest Show on Grass’” wherein “564,368 attendees” take part. The principal manager of “Waste Management Sustainability Services”, Michele Grossman stated:
“We took our sustainability efforts at the Waste Management Phoenix Open to a whole new level this year, and it showed in the results. We continue to advance our efforts year after year to show the sporting world – and the rest of the world – that 'green' is possible.”
 
The sustainability results of Waste Management presented by the company undergo scrutiny of “two outside parties”, which are “the Council for Responsible Sport and UL Environment”, before being validated. The highest designation given by the UL Environment for “landfill diversion rate” in “Zero Waste to Landfill Operations” was awarded to the WMPO. The said feat was achieved for three consecutive years, wherein “12%” incineration of waste was involved in the year of 2013, while only “10%” incineration took place in the following years of “2014 and 2015”. The general manager cum the vice president at UL Environment, Lisa Meier informed:
“Waste Management continues to take a leadership role in modeling sustainable event management practices, which we hope will become the industry standard going forward. The 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open’s achievement in obtaining UL’s landfill diversion claim validation for the best-attended golf event in the world demonstrates a level of commitment which will inspire ongoing positive change in this market space and beyond.”
 
Furthermore, the tournament was awarded Gold certification for two years by the “Council for Responsible Sport” which promoted the certification of WMPO to “Evergreen status”, whereby the “Waste Management Phoenix Open” attained the position of the largest and the first event of “PGA TOUR tournament” to receive the “Evergreen certification”. The executive director of “the Council for Responsible Sport”, Keith Peters said:
“The 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open is indicative of the highest level of accomplishment in sports event production, and demonstrates true leadership on both corporate and civic levels”.
 
There was a set of standard put forth for arriving at a “sustainable events management” for the operational purpose of Waste Management whereby defining the “requirements” which ensured “an enduring and balanced approach to economic activity, environmental responsibility and social progress relating to events”.
 
There have been additional initiatives to help improve the sustainability front of the tournament which included:
The “WMPO Water Campaign” wherein the initiations for conserving water was taken in collaboration with “Change the Course”. The partnership collected funds and restored “35 million gallons of water to the Colorado River Basin and Verde River”.
 
The unused food of the tournaments that were perishable in nature weighed over “30,000 pounds”. The said amount was distributed among various charities like “Waste Not Perishable Food Rescue & Delivery and Church on the Street”.
 
The organisation also built “Habitat for Humanity ReStore locations” besides collecting “25,239 pounds of tournament materials” along with “682 pounds of vinyl fence signage” and donating the same.
 
Talking about the challenge of Zero Waste undertaken by Waste Management, BusinessWire writes:
“In the fourth year of the tournament’s Zero Waste Challenge, Waste Management expanded vendor and fan education of proper waste sorting. Once again, there were no trash receptacles on the golf course, only recycling and compost bins for all public and back-of-house operations.
 
“Waste Management repurposed and transformed large roll-off containers into eye-catching Zero Waste Stations where fans could engage with volunteers to help collect food and beverage materials”.




References:
http://www.businesswire.com