Every person who plays tennis probably loves the smell and feel of fresh balls (yes, we said it). But the father and son duo behind RecycleBalls couldn’t help but wonder…what happens to all of those balls after they get tossed back and forth for a while?

What they discovered is that tennis is one of the most wasteful environmentally damaging sports on the planet, with 125 million balls trashed every year. So they decided to do something about it.

Through RecycleBalls, which has a national presence, tennis balls are broken down, and their various parts are turned into materials for new projects. For example, when the felt is separated from the rubber, the crumb that’s generated is called "green gold,” which is used in a variety of products, including the construction of new tennis courts and horse footing.

We applaud the community of East Brunswick’s commitment over the last five years to working with RecycleBalls on diverting used balls from landfills. Each one of the 82,650 balls they recycled translates directly into reduced methane emissions — and a multitude of ways to repurpose the materials, which is a WIN | WIN for people and the planet.

It’s simple solution to a big problem, and we wished we’d known about them a long time ago.

Even though RecycleBalls counts 4,000 US partners, and also inked a partnership with renowned tennis brand Wilson, there’s so much more that could be done to raise awareness about their initiatives.

First, this would be a great opportunity for Wilson to position itself as the most environmentally-friendly brand in tennis — and would be great fodder for a brand campaign around any of the major tournaments.

From a retail perspective, Wilson could also develop a matching donation program to benefit the nonprofit directly. “For every Wilson item bought, we’ll donate $1 to RecycleBalls to power their reclamation and reuse efforts.” This kind of play would lead perfectly into an educational initiative, teaching tennis players at all levels about the impact the sport has on the planet, and what steps they can take to help. They could create school curricula, content for local sports organizations, even nationwide “WIN off the Court” challenges to see which cities, clubs, or facilities can send the most tennis balls to be recycled every year. Prizes could range from a cash donation to the tennis team, to a full court renovation…made with, you guessed it, materials reclaimed from RecycleBalls! (How’s that for full-circle?)

Second, a partnership between RecycleBalls and the ATP and WTA seems like a grand slam waiting to happen. If a deal at the league-level is too tough to pull off, there are plenty of opportunities to partner with young US players like Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Coco Gauff, or Madison Keys, who can serve as influencers for the organization and help raise awareness.

Lastly, and it took a lot for us not to put this one at the very top… THE PUNS! There are so many opportunities to be provocative, funny, and educational while letting folks know about RecycleBalls great work. In the spirit of Wimbledon, simply imagine an umpire, dressed to the nines, with a lovely British accent asking fans to continue to bust the players’ balls for a change to push them to recycle their balls at the end of each match. You know you’d laugh, and so would we.