Waste Management Honored With First “Water Stewardship Influencer Award” Presented By Green Sports Alliance & Bonneville Environmental Foundation

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. — Jan. 18, 2019 — Waste Management was recently honored with the “Water Stewardship Influencer Award” presented by Green Sports Alliance and Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) for the company’s awareness and conservation efforts at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. The award was presented at the ASU Sports and Sustainability Symposium held at Arizona State University on January 17. BEF teamed with the Green Sports Alliance to honor organizations that are not only exhibiting excellence in water conservation and restoration, but also leveraging their position to bring others along with them to directly grow a movement around environmental water stewardship.

"For the past five years, Waste Management has helped to move the needle for corporate environmental water stewardship in Arizona,” said Todd Reeve, CEO of Bonneville Environmental Foundation. “Leveraging the power and influence of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, they have driven awareness and resources to conserving water, reusing grey water, and restoring freshwater to nature in a state and at a time when it could not be more important. For these reasons and more, we are thrilled to partner with the Green Sports Alliance to honor Waste Management with the first Water Stewardship Influencer Award.”

Waste Management and the tournament hosts, The Thunderbirds, implement water conservation measures to ensure water is used responsibly at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Measures include handwashing stations utilizing hand sanitizer instead of water and grey water is collected in the kitchens across the course as well as the hospitality bars on the 16th hole to be reused in portable toilets to reduce freshwater usage.

Buy one VIP, get one VIP 50 percent off to Saturday’s headline event Presented by Omnia Nightclub to see the No. 1 DJ in the world, Martin Garrix; along with DJ Vice and Justin Mylo. This special seven day FLASH promotion begins Thursday, January 17 at 8 a.m., and will run through Wednesday, January 23. VIP tickets start at $300 – The second ticket, when purchasing two, will cost $150.

Click Here to Purchase Tickets

FREE ADMISSION OFFER IS GOOD ON MONDAY, JAN. 28 AND TUESDAY, JAN. 29

Thanks to Ford, the Official Vehicle of the Waste Management Phoenix Open Presented by the Ak-Chin Indian Community, all fans will be admitted FREE of charge on Monday, Jan. 28 and Tuesday, Jan. 29 to the Waste Management Phoenix Open as part of “Ford Free Days” courtesy of your Arizona Ford Dealers.

As part of the renewed partnership, the second-annual closest-to-the-pin contest called “FORD Drive for Your Ride” will be held on the iconic 16^th hole, giving players a chance to win a new Ford Edge ST and to give a new Ford Edge ST to one of ten local non-profit organizations. 

“This marks the fourth consecutive year our event and Ford have teamed up to offer free admission to all of our fans,” said Tournament Chairman Chance Cozby. “Ford has been an outstanding partner. We’re thrilled to offer Ford Free Days once again, but even more so to share a common commitment to our local communities.”

Monday’s schedule includes practice rounds by PGA TOUR players and the Kadima.Ventures Pro-Am, while Tuesday will include practice rounds, the R.S. Hoyt Jr. Family Foundation Dream Day, the popular San Tan Ford Special Olympics Open and the PGA TOUR Wives Classic.

2018 Tournament Retains “GEO Certified®” Accolade

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (Nov. 8, 2018) - The 2018 Waste Management Phoenix Open recently received the highest international award for sustainability in golf for its efforts to balance environmental impacts, conserve natural resources and benefit the local community as Scotland-based GEO Foundation (GEO) again named the event as a “GEO Certified® Tournament.”

To become “GEO Certified®” the Waste Management Phoenix Open, the largest attended tournament on the PGA TOUR, completed a custom-built program for golf tournaments, that was both streamlined and robust, including: document and evidence submission, a third-party verification carried out by the Council for Responsible Sport (the official verification body for GEO Certified Tournaments in North America), a thorough review by GEO, and agreement to a range of Continual Improvement Points. In conjunction with the GEO announcement, Waste Management published the 2018 Waste Management Phoenix Open Sustainability Report with detailed metrics and program explanations.

Sustainability highlights from the 2018 tournament include:

100 percent landfill diversion through recycling, composting, donation, reuse and waste-to-energy.

75 million gallons of water restored to the Verde River through the Waste Management Phoenix Open Water Campaign with Bonneville Environmental Foundation and Change the Course.

Approximately 6,353 gallons of grey water captured for reuse from kitchens across the course and hospitality bars on the 16th hole.

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, purchased 100 percent renewable electricity from Arizona Public Service, used the sun to solar-power smart energy compactors and some light fixtures around the course, fueled generators and some shuttle buses with  biodiesel. In addition, most of Waste Management’s trucks used to haul materials from the tournament were fueled by compressed natural gas.