Dutch company Renewaball developed a way to recycle old tennis and padel balls and turn them into new ones.

Tennis balls, of which 350 million are used annually worldwide, consist of various components, like rubber from Asia, wool from New Zealand, and felt from elsewhere. Due to the intensive use of tennis and padel balls, they are often only used for a short time before they are discarded. The felt used is often made of nylon or polyester, which sheds microplastics into the air. And because of the various components the balls consist of, they hard to recycle. Thus, they often end up on the landfill.

Renewaball now found a way to separate the components and recycle the balls. They collect the balls at tennis and padel clubs. They use the rubber to make new balls. Currently, only part of the rubber of the balls is recycled, but the company says they will increase that percentage in the years to come, as they will collect more. For the felt, they use ecological wool and cotton from Europe.

Currently, it takes up to four discarded balls to make one new one. The remaining material is used in for instance rubber tiles and furniture.

Since 2022, the Renewaballs balls have been approved by international tennis and padel clubs, and they can be used in official tournaments.

Photo: Renewaball