A Professional Golf Tournament and Beyond–Sustainability in Action

Return Polymers is proud of our part within parent company, The Azek Company, including its line of TimberTech Products. As a company, we are deeply committed to making a lasting impact on the world by accelerating the use of recycled materials, and it shows with the unique sustainability approach taken at last year's TimberTech Championship PGA golf tournament.

Hosted in Boca Raton, Florida, the tournament is a longstanding tradition in South Florida, welcoming a field of PGA Tour golfers in the top 54 players of the Charles Schwab Cup standings. With thousands on site, between volunteers, staff, players, and visitors, the potential for generating waste is large, if not for clever solutions. In 2020, the event was able to secure 4.1 million pounds of materials for recycling. In an effort to do even better, the TimberTech Championship made a commitment to make the 2021 event one of Zero Waste to Landfill.

This ambitious goal meant taking on several approaches. First, in an effort to eliminate food waste, dubbed “From Bite to Bin,” composting bins were placed throughout the course for gathering food scraps. In addition, compostable cutlery was supplied, which was also suitable to be collected in the bins. Then, an on-site composter was utilized to process collected material. Through this composting effort, we’ve helped to return organic matter and nutrients to the soil. In addition to the composting effort, we were also able to collect and recycle cups, plates, bottles, cans, and more at various stations throughout the event through traditional recycling. By teaming up with on-site vendors and partners, as well as deploying our Full-Circle Green Team, we were able to sort collected material to ensure reuse.

In an extra step, the event also included a plastic bag collection drive and raffle in which attendees were invited to bring plastic bags to be used to make TimberTech products. Participants were entered into the raffle for a chance to win one of six sets of two Adirondack chairs, a matching side table — both made from recycled materials — and a TimberTech swag bag. 

Of course, these efforts at the tournament represent just the tip of the iceberg in our larger commitment to accelerating the use of recycled materials. In fact, Return Polymers' own Business Development Manager, Ryan Manley, gave a presentation at the tournament which sums up our approach with what we call “AZEK Full-Circle PVC Recycling.”

Through the Full-Circle program, The AZEK Company, along with Return Polymers, partner with lumber yards, dealers and contractors to keep their costs down and reduce waste while keeping recyclable material in the supply chain. In this process, AZEK provides recycling bins to a distributor. Then, bins are distributed throughout the market to dealers and contractors. Contractors then fill the bins with collected material, either on the job site or at a participating dealer location. Once the bins are full, the contractors deliver their bins to the dealer location and the distributor coordinates with the dealer to pick up and aggregate the bins. The distributor then stores the bins until a full truckload is accumulated, after which AZEK arranges for final pickup and replacement. 

At Return Polymers, we’re proud to be part of both the sustainability efforts for the TimberTech Championship and the Full-Circle program, as well as the many partnerships that are involved in making them happen. If you would like to learn more about the program and getting involved to potentially keep costs down and reduce waste for your operation, contact us today.