Today, the “Pall pole prügi” project celebrates its third birthday. They have collected and revalued
150,000 tennis balls from Estonian tennis centres. The goal of the project is to raise awareness of the
environmental harm of tennis balls and to find ways to recycle them.
“A small but considerable part of the Reval Ladies tennis club has dedicated their time and supporters’
money to find sustainable solutions to recycle used tennis balls, which would have otherwise ended up in
a landfill as useless garbage. During this time, the balls collected from Estonian tennis centres have mostly
found a new life in the Danish furniture industry, but have also found reuse in kindergartens, as pet toys
and as tools in physiotherapy,” said Triine Casdagli, president of the Reval Ladies tennis club. “I thank all
the supporters of the project, especially the Estonian Tennis Association, logistics partners Kaubaekspress
and Ragn-Sells and this year’s significant partner SEB.”
The big innovation of “Pall pole prügi” this year is the installation of new collection boxes next to all courts
of major tennis centres in Estonia. They make the collection of balls even more convenient, because after
the game it is even easier to put the used balls in the boxes.
“Since it is still difficult to recycle tennis balls at the moment, ball manufacturers, recyclers and
tournament organisers are looking for more environmentally friendly solutions. Tennis balls are so-called
indestructible, which means that they are very resistant to mechanical processing and their design has
remained essentially unchanged since 1920. Sustainable management is important for SEB, we want to
support tennis and try to find ways to make the consumption pattern and use of balls more sustainable,”
said Evelin Allas, SEB’s Baltic Sustainability Communications Manager.
The team of the “Pall pole prügi” project has actively researched various possibilities of using balls with
TalTech University researchers, plastic recycling technologists, and students of Haapsalu College of Tallinn
University. “Many thanks to all sympathisers who have tried to find a way to recycle the balls. We
encourage all companies involved in material recycling to contact us to find new ways to value used tennis
balls,” said Eva Truuverk, leader of Rohetiiger, who is also a member of the “Pall pole prügi” project team.
“Pall pole prügi” wishes to find new partners who can ensure sustainable recycling of tennis balls. Ideally,
all tennis balls, even after being used multiple times, both on tennis courts and in other areas, could be
found as raw material for companies that reprocess the material and completely exhaust it.
There are ball collection boxes in 26 major tennis centers across Estonia: Haapsalu, Harjumaa, Kärdla,
Kuressaare, Narva, Pärnu, Rakvere, Tallinn, Tartu and Viljandi.
In 2021, the Estonian Tennis Association recognized the “Pall pole prügi” project as the deed of the year.
Additional information about “Pall pole prügi” can be found at pallpoleprugi.revalladies.ee and Facebook.
