Operations Award at the 2025 European Tour Group Sustainability Awards
Change Waste Recycling is proud to announce that it has won the Event Operations Award at the 2025 European Tour Group Sustainability Awards, held during the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. The accolade recognises the transformational waste and recycling programme delivered at the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open, setting a new benchmark for sustainable event operations across global sport.
In 2022, before Change Waste Recycling’s involvement, the Scottish Open’s waste system was falling short of the DP World Tour’s sustainability ambitions. Recycling rates sat at just 6%, with 58.49 tonnes of general waste produced and almost no effective segregation. Food waste collections were minimal, and no glass was recycled, meaning nearly all materials were being disposed of as general waste.
Recognising the need for a specialist-led approach, Change Waste Recycling partnered with the DP World Tour to redesign the waste model from the ground up. The objectives were bold: deliver best-in-class segregation, double recycling performance in the first year, reduce carbon emissions, professionalise waste handling, and achieve 100% diversion from landfill.
“Winning the Operations Award is a testament to the power of doing things differently, We’re incredibly proud to work with the DP World Tour to demonstrate that world-class sporting events can also be world-class in sustainability.” - Stephen Cameron, Managing Director, Change Waste Recycling.
A new model for sustainable event waste
Over three years, Change Waste Recycling implemented a comprehensive operational overhaul:
Separation of cleaning and waste contracts, allowing trained waste operatives to take dedicated ownership of material capture and segregation.
Back-of-house transformation, including food waste caddies, improved bin infrastructure, daily swaps, and hands-on collaboration with caterers, bars, and contractors.
Enhanced public-facing systems, pairing recycling and general waste bins, improving signage, and deploying a trained team of litter pickers to segregate waste as it was collected.
Smarter logistics, reducing carbon by localising treatment - with general waste processed in Dalkeith and recyclables sorted at the Newhaven facility.
This partnership approach unified all operational teams behind one sustainability goal: significantly improve recycling without compromising the quality or scale of a world-class sporting event. The transformation has been immediate, measurable, and sustained.
Across all three years of CWR’s Waste Management, the Scottish Open achieved 100% diversion from landfill, a first for the tournament, while reducing transport-related carbon emissions through smarter routing and local processing.
The most significant shift has been cultural. Waste management is no longer treated as an extension of cleaning but as a specialist sustainability discipline delivered by experts. Staff across the event were equipped with the tools, training, and confidence to segregate waste effectively, changing behaviours and raising standards year-on-year.
The Scottish Open now stands as a showcase of what’s possible when waste expertise is integrated directly into event operations. The model proves that major, high-profile events can achieve ambitious sustainability outcomes without compromise, even as attendee numbers and infrastructure grow.