Eco-Tennis Move
Many tennis organizations have started their “green programs” to help maintain a better earth environment. While these entities are making sustainable actions that are focusing more on bigger visions like controlling the overall carbon emissions, what are some small practices that individuals can be doing?
Tennis balls
Triniti:
There are not a lot of sustainable options for tennis balls, the most remarkable one so far is “Triniti” which is invented by Wilson. Unlike normal tennis ball cans that aluminum ring top cannot be recycled, Triniti uses fully recyclable paper packaging. The new blended material makes Triniti balls more flexible at contact and last 4 times longer than the standard ones. According to Wilson, Triniti balls had been first tested in WTA tournament in Shenzheng and got a lot of positive feedback from players. However, it does cost more than the standard balls, so you might want to use it mostly for matches rather than practice balls. If you do not have any financial concerns, you should definitely try it out!
Penn:
Penn’s Green Initiatives has allowed them to generate their own tennis ball cans which are made with recyclable plastic materials, and these tennis cans can be recycled like other water bottles! The following is the statement from their website page:
“Penn uses a unique manufacturing process that starts with approximately 25% less material and also recycles 20% of the material used back into the process. Because Penn makes their own cans, any cans that do not meet quality standards can be ground up and recycled back into the production process to make new cans”.
Therefore, if you are using Penn’s tennis ball, don’t forget to put those cans into recycle!
Pressureless Balls:
Normally, tennis balls are pressurized with compressed air inside the core, but pressureless balls are solid inside meaning it will not go flat like pressurized balls. Since pressureless balls are solid inside, you might feel a bit heavier and harder when you hit the ball. However, the longevity of pressureless balls can be a great option for practice, especially with ball machine, and it is cost-effective in a long term (You do want to keep a decent amount of match qualified balls in order to be prepared for matches or tournament).
Ball Recycling:
According to Retour Tennis, about 300 million tennis balls are produced in the world, and 125 million of them are sold in the United States; however, there are 100 million balls end in the U.S. landfills. With the development of sustainability initiatives, an innovation of using old tennis balls to make cushioned tennis courts with excellent playability and durability has been applying in places, which helps to reduce amount of wasted balls going into landfills. Today, there are different organizations that collect old tennis balls and utilize them for different purposes which slow down the lifecycle of those tennis balls.
1) Recycle Balls:
Recycle Balls is a non-profit organization which collects used tennis balls and turns them into new tennis courts, horse footing and other green products. In 2019, Recycle Balls started their partnership with Wilson Sporting Goods to help with the ball recycling around the nation. Green Gold, an innovation of all-natural crumb rubber made from tennis balls, has started developing different green products since 2018. For your club, community, or team, you can order the bin (outdoors & indoors) from Recycle Balls and ship the bin with used tennis balls to their address. Visit Recycle Balls QUICKSHIP program for more information.
2) Rebounces
ReBounces has also been partnering with Ace Surfaces and Advanced Polymer Technology to collect old tennis balls and utilize them to make cushioned tennis courts (Read more here). ReBounces started the First National Campaign to Recycle Tennis Balls in 2008 and became the leader in “Eco Tennis”. To recycle your tennis balls with Rebounces, simply fill out the form and buy a box which can hold at least 200 balls and ship it to the address. For more information, check Tennis Ball Recycling at ReBouncs.
ReBounces also has an innovation called Green Tennis Machine that can restore the pressure of flat / old balls in a few days. This technology helps you save money by reducing the frequency of purchasing news practice balls and slowing down the speed of wastes going into landfills.
Retour Tennis, a family company, has also become a part of tennis ball recycling community and decided to reduce amount of wasted tennis balls in landfills. You can order AD-in bins and follow the instruction to recycle those tennis balls.
Recycle Tennis balls is based in the United Kingdoms that you can send your old tennis balls to them for free and then they will pass to different dog charities. If you are outside the United Kingdom, they also have other charity locations that you can donate to. Check Recycle Tennis Balls for more information.
Be Creative!
Use old tennis balls as:
1) Dog’s toy
2) Home decoration / crafts
According to Recycle Nation:
3) old tennis balls (clean) can be used as static balls in the dryer that helps you shorten drying time
4) put old tennis balls in your toilet tank that can decrease amount of water when flushing
Tennis Racquets
There are few sustainable options of tennis racquets in the market today, which makes it hard for players to be eco-friendly in tennis. However, you can always purchase second-hand racquet if you are concerned about the price or as a beginner. If you do not play tennis frequently, renting a racquet is a great option for you as well. At the end of the lifecycle of your tennis racquet(s), you can recycle them instead of throwing then away to add more wastes into landfills.
Terracycle offers a platform in national range that can recycle everything that is hard to do regular-recycle. They have zero-waste boxes for different types of waste products, and any types of sporting equipment can be categorized and recycled together in a same box. Same as the process of recycling tennis balls, you just need to purchase a zero-waste box from Terracycle and ship back to them. These boxes are a bit pricy, but if the price is not a concern for you and your group, this is a great way for the world of sport to help with the environment.
Tennis Strings
Same as the racquet, there are not a lot of options of sustainable-made strings, because a lot of them are still made from polyester which is fossil fuel based. However, if you pay attention to types of strings you purchase, there are strings that are made by recycled synthetic materials which are relatively more sustainable that can slow down the amount of waste going into landfills.
Another eco-friendly option is the natural gut string from cow’s intestine which is biodegradable. According to Tennis Warehouse, while providing great power and elasticity at the contact of the ball, natural gut strings are also arm-friendly. However, the high labor intensity of natural gut production leads a high cost, and lower durability compared with polyester strings even makes them more expensive. Therefore, based on your own ability, choosing either recycled material strings or natural gut strings can move eco-tennis one step further.
Learn more about natural gut string: https://www.perfect-tennis.com/natural-gut-strings/
Grips
A typical option is leather grip which has a great durability but is much more expensive while having environmental impact from grazing and manufacturing process. Today, most overgrips are still made of non-degradable plastics. EcoGRIP is a company that produces eco-friendly tennis products, and the most well-known product they have is their EcoGrip. An Australian governmental scientific organization called Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization has proved and certified that EcoGrip is biodegradable, and this overgrip only takes one year to fully decompose. The chart below is the comparison of three different types of grips:
Sportswear
Clothing:
Many well-known sport companies like Adidas, Nike, Puma have been creating their own sustainability initiatives and producing sustainable sportswear that is made of recycled or environmentally friendly materials. There are also many small sustainable sportswear companies that provide you more green options, you can check my previous post “Green Your Sportswear”. Purchasing second-hand clothes is also another option for you to be more sustainable in terms of both environmental and cost aspects. Be ethical about your purchase and pay attention on what your sportswear is made of, because these details are the key to make tennis or the sports which you play more environmentally friendly. Also, you can donate and recycle your old sportswear to places that receive and sell them as second-hand or companies that renew and regenerate them to new products. It is important to support and purchase from sustainable brands to make a better sporting world!
Here are some of the sustainability missions of a few big sporting brands:
Nike Adidas Puma New Balance Under Armour Patagonia Yonex
Tennis Shoes:
Same as sports clothes, you are also able to find different eco-friendly options for your tennis shoes, either buying sustainable material made shoes or second-hand. Both Nike and Adidas, two most popular brands for tennis sportswear, have made shoes which are generated from recycled plastics or other new technologies that have less environmental impacts.
Another way to make your tennis shoes last longer is to repair the sole when your original sole becomes flat or broken. I personally repair my tennis shoe soles, especially when I was in China which is my home country; however, I am now in America where the shoe repair is dying out comparing with many developing countries, so there are not many options to do that. If the area you live allows you to repair your shoes instead of buying a new pair, I strongly suggest you doing that because it will last several more months even another year. Repairing shoes is cost-effective and helpful with reducing the amount of wastes in landfills.
This tennis shoes is one of the repaired ones and has lasted for almost two years after the sole was repaired (I do switch off with other of my tennis shoes as well)
Finally, you can donate your shoes to places where they receive old shoes to renew and regenerate a new pair. Do some research about places or programs near you that you can donate old shoes and help the environment.
The list below are some options you can consider donating and recycling your sportswear and shoes:
Patagonia Nike: “Reuse-A-Shoe” Puma: “Bring Me Back” Soles4souls The North Face: “Clothes The Loop” Shoes That Fit