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Hi, my name is Luke Riley and I live in New Canaan, CT. In this beautiful town, there are many tennis clubs and lots of tennis players, including me. I play for my varsity tennis team at St. Luke’s School. I have loved playing tennis since I was five years old. My background in tennis inspired me to kick start this tennis ball recycling program in my community.

My initiative collects used tennis balls and sends them to a special recycling plant that can properly handle the unique material composition of tennis balls (synthetic rubber, felt - nylon and wool, glue).

I collect the balls and then ship them to the plant in boxes that look like the ones in the image to the left.

I partner with RecyleBalls.org - they send me the boxes, and I make sure they get filled and then I send them to the recycling plant. I am currently working with the New Canaan Raquet Club (NCRC), The Field Club of New Canaan, (NCFC) and Woodway Country Club to help them recycle their used tennis balls and keep them out of landfills!

Boxes are set up and sit in clubs-please look for them and help us to collect balls by donating your used tennis balls. I appreciate your support.

If you do not have access to the boxes at these clubs, please contact me and I can arrange for a pick up or drop off at a convenient location for you.

This initiative is important as tennis balls are detrimental to the environment, as they are largely non-biodegradable and take up enormous space in landfills without ever properly decomposing.

~125 million tennis balls are discarded annually.

Takes an average of 400 years for a single ball to decompose

Contact is below for any questions or inquiries. Thank you very much.