Let’s Go Green

With the motto ”Yellow is the new green,” RecycleBalls is a company helping tennis players be part of the solution. RecycleBalls has processed over 4.5 Million tennis balls so far. RecycleBalls was formed as a non-profit organization in 2017, with a mission to recycle all tennis balls worldwide.

American tennis players discard more than 125 Million tennis balls a year. As it takes more than 400 years for a tennis ball to decompose, those discarded balls, when not recycled, become 20,000 tons of rubber and nylons waste every year.

RecycleBalls is giving us a way to be part of the solution. The Reno Tennis Club has promoted recycling tennis balls since 2017 and partnered with RecycleBalls in mid-2018. You’ll recognize the RTC collection box next to court 3. Recycled tennis balls arriving at RecycleBalls’ facility are fed into the “Play It Green” machine, a unique and specially developed recycling solution, where 99% of the felt is removed and the balls are processed into a crumb-like rubber. This material is used by APT Sports to make new tennis courts, natural rubber flooring for playgrounds and horse arenas. Soon they may be producing T-shirts and tennis shoes as well with the recycled rubber.

To meet their goal of recycling 20 Million tennis balls by 2022, RecycleBalls has partnered with 2,000 tennis clubs and players in 48 states. They recently helped establish an affiliated nonprofit RecycleBalls Canada, a step towards becoming a world-wide presence.

Derrick Senior, the founder of RecycleBalls, says “Our goal right now is to set a really good example, especially for young players, that trashing tennis balls is no longer acceptable or necessary.”