Local High Schooler Starts Recycling Program for Tennis Balls

While most kids his age were focused on homework, video games and TV, Ryan Trachuk had a different concern — the fate of the tennis balls he used on the court. As a tennis player at Calabasas High School, he was using dozens of tennis balls every month, only to discard them when they lost their bounce. These balls added to the staggering 125 million tennis balls discarded annually, contributing to 20,000 metric tons of rubber waste.

Sixteen-year-old Trachuk recognized the need for a better solution and in 2021, he launched L.A. Tennis Balls Recycling with a mission to “Clean the planet one ball at a time.” 

“I first became aware of the problem in the sixth grade,” Trachuk said. “I saw it as an issue, but I underestimated the scale of the waste. I was going through a new set of tennis balls every five weeks, costing me $80 for 20 cans, with each can containing three balls. On average, a player, whether a beginner or intermediate, uses between 100 to 150 balls per month. The U.S. Open, the world’s largest tournament, goes through one can of balls every nine games. That’s a significant number of balls.”

While the price per can of tennis balls has gone down in recent months, the sheer number of players, both professionals and enthusiasts, means that a significant amount of money and tennis balls are still being wasted.

Trachuk began collecting used tennis balls, storing them in large trash bags. His home garage in Calabasas transformed into a tennis ball storage area, while the family’s cars were relegated to the driveway. At one point, Ryan’s father Greg started complaining, saying, “You really have to get rid of these balls.”

 “I told him, I don’t want to throw them away, there must be another use for them,” Trachuk said. “And then I started thinking about a solution. I thought that schools can use them for the chair legs and they can be great for a play with the dog at the park. I brought them to a dog shelter by my house, and then to a few more shelters. I told my school coach about what I was doing and he immediately suggested: ‘Do you want to take our tennis balls?’”

News about the young tennis player on a mission to save tennis balls quickly spread to other schools, leading to the formation of a small network of coaches who gathered the fuzzy neon-yellow balls that were ready for retirement.

Trachuk faced a challenge: What to do with all those tennis balls. After all, there is a limit to how many tennis balls dog shelters and schools can use. He reached out to a recycling plant in Vermont, where he sends between 40-60 pounds of balls every couple of months, at their expense. The company processes the balls, extracting the plastic inside, which is used for various purposes, such as making doormats and softening the ground for horses on a racetrack.

Next, Trachuk plans to reach out to synagogues’ day schools to explore whether they could use the tennis balls in their classes. He said, “We actively raise awareness through social media. We created a student committee to make an interview series which we are going to post on our social media. We interviewed Bina Indelicato, one of the founders of ‘Eco Evolution,’ and we intend to interview anyone in the industry, college players on tour, the staff members of Recycle Balls in Vermont and other recycle consultant groups.”

Trachuk estimated that he has rescued a remarkable 20,000 tennis balls from the fate of ending up in landfills.

Trachuk estimated that he has rescued a remarkable 20,000 tennis balls from ending up in landfills. Some of the balls have been repurposed at Pet Orphans of Southern California and Agoura Animal Care Center. As he continues to amass hundreds of tennis balls each month, he remains open to suggestions for alternative uses and actively encourages donations of a minimum of 100 balls or more.

“Tennis balls take 400 years to decompose in landfills,” Trachuk said. “We must take every possible measure to keep them out of there.”

For more information, please visit latennisballsrecycling.weebly.com.