From The Open to the Skies.

As with all competitions that the R&A run, the organisation is committed to ensuring that the waste management at The Open 2019  is completed in an environmentally sound manner and follows the principle of reduce, reuse and recycle.

All the waste arisings from this year’s events is managed by RiverRidge, Northern Ireland’s leading waste management company.

The journey of waste from the time it is dropped into a RiverRidge container onsite at Portrush to its eventual end destination is remarkable and you could say; it ends up in the sky. This is because part of the waste received is used to create energy which is used by a local aerospace manufacturer. The precise elements of this journey are described below:

1. RiverRidge has deployed over 400 bins across the course for spectators to use during the event. Using mobile teams equipped with smart tablet technology, each bin is emptied on a regular basis and the resulting waste returned to RiverRidge’s bulking station which is also located within the contractor’s yard off the course.
2. Using a number of RiverRidge’s Mercedes refuse collection vehicles, the waste received is loaded into a vehicle each evening after the day’s proceedings, it is transferred to RiverRidge’s state of the art treatment facility located in Garvagh.
3. The facility operates on a 24/7 basis so as soon as it arrives onsite treatment begins.
4. Firstly, all the recyclable products such as cans and bottles are removed.
5. Thereafter any residual materials, which cannot be recycled are processed further and converted into a refuse-derived fuel.
6. The fuel is then transported to RiverRidge’s waste to energy facility, which is located in Belfast.
7. The waste to energy facility is Northern Ireland’s only large-scale waste to energy plant and provides a steady stream of power to Bombardier’s wing assembly plant, which is located nearby.

Other waste streams such as food waste and wood are also collected on-site and find their way to similarly innovative end destinations.

RiverRidge has committed to ensuring that 100% of the waste received from the R&A during The 148^th Open is diverted from landfill and hopes that this will set the standard for all similar sporting events in the future.