How Do I Recycle Used Tennis Balls?

May 7, 2022

Photo by iStock/BilevichOlga

Where can I recycle used tennis balls? How can I make balls last longer? And where can I get vegan balls?
—Diosdado in Seal Beach, California

Tennis ball fuzz is made from plastic like PET (polyethylene terephthalate), which gets worn away and becomes microfibers that turn into dust we breathe in. So I no longer rescue tennis balls on the beach and put them near the entrance for dogs. Instead, I put two in a sock and lie on them to massage along my spine.

When tennis balls are beyond repair, get a tax deduction and ship them for free to RecycleBalls. They’ll turn them into tennis courts, stucco, and more. They receive 20,000 balls weekly from tennis clubs throughout the United States. If you really need new balls, try vegan ones in which no animals were harmed from Sheeps.tennis. Ask me about more wool-free products and cruelty-free balls, like soccer balls made without child labor!

Meanwhile, up your reuse and repurpose game. Keep your balls warm. Hot balls bounce higher than cold balls. And you can make them bouncier by repressurizing them with a Gamma or Gexco Tennis Ball Saver or Pressurize Ball. Repressurize 60 or more a week with a Rebounces Green Tennis Machine.

For 15 years, Jessian Choy, aka "Ms. Green," (“she” not “guys” or “girl”), co-created laws and contracts and co-managed SF Approved, a site of green products she helped create at the San Francisco Department of Environment. Now, by day, she serves on the board of Food Empowerment Project and Earth Island. By night, she creates fun and draconian tricks for a happy, equitable, green world and fun and utopian “trips” to be happy, equitable, green or vegan through hypnotherapy, reiki energy work, and sound therapy.You can ask Ms. Green a question by clicking here or talk nerdy to her at @realMsGreen.