12.16.2022 Trashed Tennis Balls: An Unlikely Epidemic Kent Zhang
Sports are rarely thought of as substantial polluters, their environmental impacts are hidden behind the news of the latest score lines and scandals. Tennis is a notable example: an environmental disaster even most tennis players don’t know about.
The main culprit is the tennis ball: an environmental sucker punch wrapped in innocent-looking, yellow fluff. As it turns out, nearly every part of a tennis ball damages the environment, starting with the pressurized rubber core. This non-recyclable, rubber interior of a ball can sit in landfills for hundreds of years, slowly releasing methane, a greenhouse gas. Arguably even more dangerous is the distinct neon outer wool/nylon layer, composed partially of PET plastic. When a tennis ball is hit or generally degrades, the PET/nylon layer begins to shave away, turning into microplastics that spread into the atmosphere/watershed, causing immense damage to ecosystems.
However, ruin to the environment starts long before a ball hits the court. The manufacturing of a tennis ball also releases carbon emissions as it travels between factories, and rubber collection processes are often dangerous to forests. The environmental impacts of a single ball are already grim, but the scale of the whole issue is unfathomable. Most professionals and even amateurs rarely use balls for more than a few hours, exacerbating the problem. In the US alone, over 125 million tennis balls are discarded yearly, showing just how large of a problem this is.
Having played the sport for years now, I was shocked to learn about the degree of environmental harm tennis had done and would continue to do. Even though I’d hit tens of thousands of tennis balls, I’d never managed to see the environmental dangers past the fluffy, yellow exterior. That was until one day, I chanced upon a YouTube video discussing the whole fiasco with tennis balls. As I watched the video, I began wondering how this issue had escaped the attention of over 87 million tennis players worldwide? Is there a way for the average player to help? Turns out, there is.
As mentioned in the video, RecycleBalls is a Wilson-sponsored organization that collects tennis balls across the US and recycles the inner rubber and outer plastic layers. After processing, the rubber and plastic are repurposed into all sorts of things like tennis courts, stucco, fabrics, sidewalks and more. RecycleBalls relies on individuals and organizations to ship their used balls to recycling facilities. The shipping process is relatively simple: request a free shipping label (with optional donation), pack the balls into boxes, and you’re ready to go.
This was an excellent opportunity for me to minimize my environmental footprint and support my sport. Therefore, starting early 2021, I began shipping used tennis balls from the tennis center I attended through the aforementioned process. In 2021 alone, about 7000 balls were recycled and shipped to RecycleBalls. Though I’d made progress towards the cause by myself, I knew more people’s efforts would make a larger dent.
By joining the Wootton Youth Volunteers Club in the 2022-23 school year, I’ve been able to accomplish this. With the help of fellow club captains and key members Joanne Fan, Grace Chen, Ethan Wang, Elaine Wang and Jonathan Fan, I established the recycle ball program, in which many more members will participate. In order to collect balls from different locations, more recycle bins were needed. On behalf of our club, I initiated and applied for a grant from Montgomery County, receiving $500. Using this money, we bought and customized several recycle bins. Modifications included spray-painting, drilling, and laminating, all to make the bins presentable and informative about our cause. Since September 2022, we’ve installed bins for used balls at Thomas S. Wootton High School, Robert Frost Middle School, and Quince Orchard Swimming and Tennis Club (belonged to CCACC) with enthusiasm and support from school principals and tennis center directors. Over the past two months, we’ve managed to recycle and ship over 800 tennis balls in our area. Our club hopes to expand our efforts to more local schools, tennis centers, and community tennis courts.
Tennis Ball Recycle Bin at CCACC Sports
CCACC Tennis Court
Everyone could be part of the solution and recycle used tennis balls, if convenient. We believe what we do is helping to reduce the pollution and more importantly raise the community’s awareness to recycle and reuse them. We hope to make it further as a county, state and national initiative. This would inspire the tennis community to change habits, stop trashing tennis balls and put forward this recycling activity as one of cost-effective green solutions to the global environment. Together we make a difference!
If you have any questions on recycling tennis balls, please contact the Wootton Youth Volunteers Club at youthvolunteersclub@gmail.com. You can learn more about RecycleBalls on their website, https://www.recycleballs.org/.
Happy Holidays from Wootton Youth Volunteers Club and its sister club at Blair High School (Kent Zhang, Ethan Wang, Elaine Wang, Jonathan Fan, Joanne Fan, Grace Chen, Aiden Chee, Shanna Deng, Joanne Li, Jason Li, Vincent Lee, Miduo Sun, Jacen Li and Alex Liu).
