Tennis Ball Recycling Program

Starting a tennis ball recycling program in Vienna, VA and collaborate with  4 nearby tennis facilities for additional involvement and educating youth and adults on the importance/ benefits of tennis ball recycling.

My solution is to start a tennis ball recycling program in our community, collaborate to include 4 additional tennis facilities nearby, and educate the  public about the benefits of recycling tennis balls as well benefits of recyclable products.  This inolves tennis ball recycling machines that take tennis balls and make tennis courts and rubber mulch. 

This solution of recycling tennis balls will work towards the problem of excess balls.  About 125 million used tennis balls end up in landfills every year in the USA. This equates to 20,000 metric tons of methane-producing, near non-decomposable rubber waste that can be recycled and incorporated into new products.  This is also enough to fill 625,0000 bins of 200 tennis balls 60 miles high.   It takes 400 years to decompose tennis balls. The enitire world could be impacted with cleaner air if more people recycled tennis balls.  There is no existing tennis ball recycling program at any facility I  contacted.  Many people do not know that there is a facility that facilities have the option to participate that can recycle tennis balls. A tennis ball recycling program can spread this awareness and the recycling program could grow as more people become aware of the impact of tennis balls in the landfills.   Any funds recieved from this solution would go to establish a tennis ball recycling program and expand the scope to include other facilities as well. The hope is that facilities will set funds aside in future years to participate. This will help to improve the environment and help with climate change. It will educate chidlren about recycling. 

The target population is our entire community as this will benefit the town I live in as well as 3 other towns nearby.  Many people in our town are of the underserved community and they will benefit from a cleaner environment and children will be educated about the benefits of recycling. 

I have reached out ot a few tennis facilities to see if they have a tennis ball recycling program and no facility nearby recycles tennis balls. The tennis balls will be sent to a recycling facility that uses the tennis balls for products like tennis court floors.  I will also educate underserved youth in my community about the importance of recycling and do a stem project with them using recycled material. 

I have contaced tennis facilites to see if they would like to participate in a recycling program and they indicated that they would be open to having a tennis recycling program. 

My solution involves utilizing "Play it Green Machine"  recycles 10,000 balls an hour.  

Current number of people served - 0. The tennis ball recycling program has not started yet. 

Total number of people covered by facilities utilizing tennis resources - 20,0000 people (Town of Vienna Residents, Fairfax Racquet Club members, McLean Racquet Club Members and Madison High School Tennis players). 

The overall impact is to Fairfax County but if the movement continues, the impact can grow exponentially. 

My goals for next year is to set up a recycling campagn and to spread awareness about a recycling program. 

I will measure progress and goals by the number of facilities that get involved in a recyclign program and by number of ball recycled. 

The biggest barrier is financial barrier to get the recycling program started. 

If awarded funds, my team is ready to start working on the recycling program. Initial contact has been made with the tennis facilities that would like to participate in the program.  

The project manager is Zane Javeri, a boy scout working towards his Eagle Rank  will manage the project. He has worked on other Eagle Scout projects and is eager to work on this program. Zane is an avid tennis player and take great pride in establish a tennis ball recycling program for a sport that he plays at least 8 hours a week.  Zane's mother is a project manager, ready to provide support as needed to see this project through fruition. Zane would get his fellow tennis players, boy scout troop mates and girl scouts to volunteer. They are a reliable team and they play tennis  at the various facilities and can easily do the work required to get the recycling program underway.   

I will partner with Recycle Balls for the acutal tennis ball recycling. The Town of Vienna, James Madison High School, Fairfax Raquet Club and McLean Health and Raquet Club have agreed to participate in the program.  Additional facilities will be contacted if we can get funding to start the recycling efforts.    Zane will pursue this as his Eagle Project and has suport of his Boy Scout troop.