Tennis Balls in Maui Find a New Life in Construction of Tennis Courts
Tennis - Maui Tennis Ball Recycling LLC has concluded a successful year of a tennis ball recycling pilot project with support from the County of Maui Department of Environmental Management, according to Maui Now. Over the period od July 2018 to June 2019, a total of 7,043 used tennis balls were collected and shipped to the mainland in China where they have been used as rubber crumbs in the construction of new tennis courts.
These used tennis balls represent non-decomposable, methane-producing rubber waste which did not end up in the Maui landfill, according to the Maui Tennis Ball Recycling LLC.
Organization leaders commented, "Most people don’t know that a good tennis player will use three tennis balls per match and then discards them. A growing number of players are starting to recognize that this is a significant environmental problem. Living on a small island with a limited amount of landfill space makes this recycling effort an even more pressing matter
Panna Speas Cappelli of Maui Hands, Inc, an avid tennis player and supporter commented, “We really need to start recycling all tennis balls, worldwide. A couple of years ago, I spoke personally with USTA Chairman and President, Katrina Adams, about forming a nationwide tennis ball recycling program and she advised starting locally. When Karuna Santoro started a Maui program the following year, I helped send the first box of balls to a mainland recycling company. They had never received a shipment of balls from so far away.”
Giovanni Steven Cappelli of Casanova Restaurant, Inc commented, “We need to develop awareness in everything we do, every box we open, every plastic we throw away. The pleasure of popping that new can of balls will be guiltless when you know that those balls will be recycled and not just going into our landfill. Let’s make sure that our grandkids will be able to play tennis as well…..recycle those balls.”
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2ybzafR
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