The newly christened Waste Management Phoenix Open has become the target of jokes. We pick through the garbage to get the real story.

There’s going to be a lot of trash talk at the TPC Scottsdale this February. Not just about Tiger Woods or the antics at the Birds Nest, but about the former FBR Open’s new name: the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

It’s just one of the changes that will happen this year at the tournament that draws more crowds and raises more money for charity than any PGA event. Another is that the Open will take place on February 22-28 instead of its usual Super Bowl weekend slot. The move is largely due to television conflicts with the Winter Olympics but could mean even bigger crowds, which typically average around 500,000.

“We’ve got longer, warmer days. It’s right before spring training. Sunday should be a record day because there’s no Super Bowl,” says Tournament Chairman David Rauch, a member of the Thunderbirds, the local civic group that hosts the tournament.

That could mean a boost in revenue for an event that already has a nearly $200 million dollar annual impact on the Valley, according to Thunderbird Big Chief John Felix.

This year also marks the Open’s 75th anniversary, so the Thunderbirds are honoring the PGA Tour’s fourth oldest tournament with multimedia historical displays.

But the change most people will be talking about is the name. “Given all the recent drama surrounding the world’s best golfer, the fact that the word ‘trash’ is associated with golf is a little amusing,” says David Eichler, co-founder of David and Sam PR.

The blogosphere is littered with snide remarks: Many are dubbing it the Wasted Open (a jab at the notorious alcohol-fueled revelry). The Arizona Republic sports writer Bob Young asked, “Hey, are the Sopranos going to serve as a presenting sponsor?”

But behind this rubbish is a story that reflects the recession-caused changing times: Investment is out, and environment is in.

Last year, FBR – a Virginia-based investment firm that lost more than $1 billion in the last two years, according to the Phoenix Business Journal – announced it was stepping down as title sponsor. During FBR’s six-year run, the Open raised nearly $38 million for charities – more than half of the $65.9 million raised in its entire 75 years.

In December, the Thunderbirds named Waste Management, Inc. – North America’s largest environmental services provider – title sponsor through at least 2015. The Houston-based company had been a non-title sponsor and has provided garbage and recycling services at the tournament for the past 10 years.

This year, evidence of Waste Management’s “Think Green” mantra will be sprouting up around the golf course: automated recycling machines that spit out prize coupons, solar-powered compactors that hold more than 150 tons of waste, and displays about converting garbage to clean energy.

The goal is to turn the event into “the greenest tournament on the PGA Tour,” says David Aardsma, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Waste Management.

This environmental shift is not the first time the Open has mirrored the zeitgeist. The Phoenix Open debuted in 1932 but was canceled in 1935, a victim of the Great Depression. Then avid golfer Bob Goldwater, Barry’s brother, persuaded the reluctant Thunderbirds to revive it, inviting his friend Ben Hogan to play at Phoenix Country Club.

The event continued until World War II halted it in 1943. But it was on again in ’44, when the prize money was paid in war bonds. The tournament eventually outgrew Phoenix Country Club, which had limited parking and flat fairways that forced fans to peer over the crowd using miniature periscopes.

So in 1987, the Thunderbirds accepted Scottsdale Mayor Herb Drinkwater’s invitation to move to the TPC golf course near Scottsdale and Bell roads. The consensus was that the tournament was doomed – no one would drive that far. Around 257,000 showed up.

The Phoenix Open remained the longest-running non-major PGA tournament without a title sponsor until 2004, when it made the controversial change to FBR Open. Now  “Phoenix” is back in the title, along with the more controversial Waste Management.

“In Phoenix’s ongoing uphill battle to be perceived as a world-class destination, it’s a little disappointing that our jewel golf tournament would… open itself to be the butt of jokes,” Eichler says of the new title.

But if Waste Management achieves its goal of making the Open the greenest tournament in the world, despite all the trash talk, they’ll at least be keeping it clean.