Pickleball continues to be one of the fastest growing sports in the U.S. Recently a member of the UVA’s championship-winning pickleball club, Will Clarkson, took the initiative to start pickleball recycling at UVA. Hear the play-by-play in this Q&A.
Recently a member of the UVA’s championship-winning pickleball club, Will Clarkson, took the initiative to start pickleball recycling at UVA. Teri Strother, communications lead at UVA's Office for Sustainability, caught up with Will to get the play-by-play!
When did you start playing pickleball?
During COVID and then someone told me about the pickleball team and I’ve been hooked every since.
How did you come up with the idea?
I am on the community relations group of the team. As part of that, I got an invitation to join Central Virginia Pickleball (CEVA) which is a local group promoting pickleball outreach initiatives in the community. There I met Teddy Hamilton who mentioned that she was trying to start pickleball recycling in the Charlottesville area. When she brought it up, I immediately mentioned UVA and the number of balls we go through. So I talked to Teddy and then wrote up a proposal to the Office for Sustainability for support and also talked to UVA Recreation. They both were supportive of the idea. They approved the bin and sign that just went up last week at Snyder Courts!
Logistically, how will it work?
The recycling container is large enough to hold hundreds of balls. Every few months a designated person (myself) will take the container to the Ivy Road recycling facility. The recycling company will collect the balls from the bin at Ivy Road at no cost. Based on observations, I estimate that several broken pickleballs are discarded daily, so this will make an impact. Every little bit counts as UVA waste reduction goal by 2030 is ambitious (70% reduction of waste from 2010 baseline).
Where are the pickleballs going?
Teddy Hamilton talked to this nonprofit called P3 Cares who does the recycling here in Charlottesville. From UVA the pickleballs will be taken to Darden Towe tennis/pickleball courts or the RWSA recycling center in Ivy. P3 cares will come by and pick the balls up and from there end up being shipped to recyclers - one in North Carolina, one in California, and one in Maryland. They are working with one or more pickleball equipment suppliers on the development of the materials recycled so that they can be re-manufactured into pickleballs again (instead of other products). They say they are close to having a remanufactured ball that will meet the criteria for competition. Their website says: Currently the ground material is being used to make many different recycled products. We are working with pickleball manufacturers in the hopes of developing a way to make new pickleballs out of the recycled material in the future. The Office for Sustainability has reached out to P3 to get more details!
What’s the best part of pickleball other than being two-time national champions?
Honestly the social aspect. We have 200 people sometimes that come to play on Friday nights. It’s just a great way to meet people. 550 people are on the GroupMe. It’s really fun. If others want to get involved, they should DM us at our Instagram account: @pickleballclubatuva.
Thanks for your leadership, Will!