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Top storyGame, set and match: Tennis Australia becomes first to join ball recycling programme
Tennis Australia has become the first national sporting organisation in the country to sign up to TreadLightly, an industry-led recycling programme.
Managed by the Australian Sporting Goods Association (ASGA), the scheme will help to curb the level of waste sent to landfill and now includes used sports shoes and balls.
The project was previously known as the Game Recycling Programme, with waste transformed into recycling crumb and used to manufacture new products such as retail flooring, gym mats and underlay for sporting services.
Sports brand Dunlop has also invested in the programme alongside Tennis Australia.
“Tennis Australia is delighted to be the first national sporting organisation to sign on to TreadLightly’s new Sports Ball Programme. We have long been involved in different initiatives for recycling used tennis balls and it’s fantastic to be a part of this national program which accepts shoe and balls from all sports, allowing it to have a truly significant impact,” Tennis Australia’s Chief Tennis Officer, Tom Larner, told Global Sustainable Sport.
“We will work with tennis clubs nationally that want to be a part of the programme, and we look forward to seeing more sporting codes, clubs and brands across the country sign on.”
“I’m proud of how the sporting goods sector has worked together to find a responsible end-of-life solution for the millions of balls that end up in landfill every year.”
Collection bins have already been stationed at 60 tennis clubs across the country, which are ready to accept used balls from all sports – not just tennis.
According to Tennis Australia, it is predicted that 330 million balls are made worldwide every year with most of these ending up in landfill. Ball components can take more than 400 years to decompose.
TreadLightly’s objective is for 100% of the ball to be recycled. The ball is first cut into pieces, the reusable components extracted – including rubber, leather and fibres – and turned into recycled crumb at local recycling plants.
“It’s great to work closely with Tennis Australia and leading sports retailers and manufacturers to help reduce the impact of sport in Australia,” said ASGA Executive Director Shaun Bajada.
“I’m proud of how the sporting goods sector has worked together to find a responsible end-of-life solution for the millions of balls that end up in landfill every year.”
Tennis clubs across Australia are able to register their interest to be involved in the programme to collect used sports balls. Eventually, the programme will be rolled out across all types of sporting organisations.
Image: Elizabeth Dunne on Unsplash