Golf courses generate three main types of waste: pesticides and herbicides in the form of unused supplies and the packaging these products came in; parts cleaners, waste fuels and paint wastes; and gear and engine oil wastes. These substances must be safely disposed of through appropriate environmentally controlled channels. Many golf courses around the world are now instigating green policies, when it comes to the environmental management of their activities. In response to concerns by their members, golf clubs have been consulting with waste management specialists in a bid to reduce their hazardous wastes.
There are certain things that can be done by the green keeping departments of golf courses to successfully reduce chemical waste. Substituting hazardous cleaning methods with non-hazardous cleaning methods is a first step, it is education and training which can introduce more ecologically enlightened practices into golf course management techniques. People tend to keep doing the same things if they are not exposed to new thinking on these matters; tradition is not always a good thing, which golf finds hard to swallow sometimes. Further, golf club staff can reduce the toxicity of solvents and employ processes to maximise solvent life, and then distil solvents when disposing of them. Minimising the use of oily contaminated wastes is another way to reduce production of them overall. Commercial rubbish removal must be executed by professional waste management operatives; who are trained in eco friendly waste management techniques.
Reducing the reliance on pesticides and herbicides in the maintenance of the golf course is a major step toward more eco friendly golf courses. The answer is not always inside a bag or drum of chemicals. Again, this is an attitudinal thing, much like in the farming industry, where many farmers have turned to more organic methods of farming, turning away from what their fathers and grandfathers used to do on the land. Chemical companies have an investment in selling chemicals and producing dividends for their shareholders; they are not ultimately concerned with the soil health of the nation. Often what appears to be the easy way of dealing with problems on the course creates a dependence on the use of more and more chemicals over time. Natural methods may initially take longer but they produce much better long term results. There are, even, organic golf courses in places around the world, including Australia. Golf has had a bad name in greenie circles, forever, but things are changing fast in the face of membership pressure to do the right thing by the environment.