Ryan Trachuk repurposes tennis balls that take hundreds of years to decompose

By Marianne Love, Correspondent

Ryan Trachuk grew up in a family that has always recycled household waste. So it’s not entirely surprising that the 16-year-old Calabasas High School tennis player turned his attention to used and flat tennis balls, the vast majority of which are discarded in landfills where they become a form of rubber waste that takes hundreds of years to decompose.

When he was in eighth grade, Trachuk says, “I filled up my tennis basket (with new balls) and in a month or two they were completely dead. I put them in a trash bag and put them aside. This is a waste because they are good balls, but not good enough to play with, so I brought them to a dog shelter. And then, I did it again.”

He can proudly say he has recycled 5,000-plus of those neon yellow, furry balls that lost their bounce due to depressurization, which occurs after a ball is  constantly battered by a tennis player’s racket.

Unlike basketballs, footballs or soccer balls, tennis balls cannot be inflated time and again. They have a short shelf life.

About 125 million used tennis balls are thrown away each year in the U.S. alone, according to the non-profit Recycle Balls. That’s 20,000 metric tons of methane-producing and nearly non-decomposable rubber waste. It’s the equivalent of 20 million cubic feet of landfill space filled with nearly non-biodegradable rubber trash that produces millions of metric tons of methane.

Most of those tennis balls end up in landfills despite efforts by tennis ball recycling organizations, these groups say. Trachuk’s goal is to recycle or repurpose as many tennis balls as he can. He’s been working diligently to keep them out of landfills.

In 2021, teenager Trachuk launched LA Tennis Balls Recycling and began collecting balls from Calabasas tennis coaches, tennis camps, families and schools. He visited an elementary school where he fitted some used balls onto the bottom of students’ chair legs to reduce noise, and spoke to students about the importance of waste and recycling.

“I understand I’m not going to save all of the tennis balls, but I want to encourage people to be more conscientious of the sport and of things they use in general that are wasteful,” Trachuk said. “In the U.S., we go through 125 million tennis balls nationwide that end up in our landfills, which translate to 20,000 tons of non-decomposable waste, and each tennis ball takes over 400 years to decompose in a landfill. Most things, for reference, don’t take 400 years.”

Ryan was bringing flat, recycled tennis balls to county pet shelters and adoption agencies to play “Go fetch Fido! with the animals, until the shelters and agencies couldn’t take any more.

He also turned to Recycle Balls, a recycling plant in Vermont where he sends 40 pounds to 60 pounds of balls at their expense on a regular basis.

The Vermont recycling plant strips the fuzzy, yellow felt covering off and crushes the poly grade plastic insides and repurposes it for new tennis courts, door mats and surprisingly for a mixture of race track dirt to make it easier on horses’ legs.

His dad, Greg Trachuk, initially drove him from tennis centers to pet adoption agencies to spread the “wealth” and also to UPS to ship the balls to the Vermont-based recycling operation.

“I think he is doing a good thing,” his father said. “I guess if everyone contributes … cumulatively it will do something on a bigger scale. He is empowering others and contributing to his goal … I think he is sending them in the right direction and repurposing for some groups.”

His mom, Lara Goldberg, loves her son’s project and was amazed by how many people have no idea tennis balls can be recycled and kept out of landfills.

“Most people are surprised and excited to learn about this,” said Goldberg. “And I love that Ryan is able to educate people at the same time as doing actual recycling. He is super happy to spread his message out to as many people as possible and recycle as many tennis balls as he can.”

Ransom Braaten, founder of Calabasas-based Racket Nut and one of Ryan’s tennis coaches, has given him at least 1,500 balls in the past year and a half.

“I open 140 balls, and they last three weeks to a month — and they pretty much go flat, and they are off to the landfill,” Braaten said. “But with Ryan recycling them, they are grinded up … for playgrounds. Ryan is studious and determined. When I was 16, I definitely wouldn’t have been planning to start a nonprofit.”

For more information about Ryan’s efforts, visit https://latennisballsrecycling.weebly.com.