Santa Monica residents can bring unwanted tennis balls, pickleballs and other used sports balls to Reed Park on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. Another Bounce, a youth initiative of Habits of Waste, is organizing the free collection while attempting to set a Guinness World Record for the most sports balls recycled in one day. A Guinness adjudicator is expected to verify the count, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press.
Participants are asked to bring a grocery bag of used balls. Organizers plan to provide free ice cream to each participating family or community member who brings a full grocery bag of used balls, and the afternoon is scheduled to include pickleball matches, games, arts and crafts, a live DJ and free pickleballs supplied by Selkirk, the Santa Monica Daily Press reported. Registration is free.
Where the collected balls go
Ridwell will move the donations to a recycling center after the event, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press. Reporting by Aruba Today says the resulting plastic feedstock can be used in nursery plant pots, commercial textiles and recycled pickleballs made by Florida-based BounceBack Pickle. Organizers have also identified new sports balls and court surfaces as possible end uses.
Another Bounce began collecting in February and has diverted more than 15,000 used sports balls from landfills, the Santa Monica Daily Press reported. The project started with tennis balls and pickleballs and later expanded to other sports balls; collection boxes were placed at tennis courts across Los Angeles and emptied when full, according to that report.
Other options for used sports balls
For a year-round alternative, the United States Tennis Association says it accepts used tennis-ball donations and provides recycled tennis balls to organizations at no cost, including shipping, subject to inventory availability. USTA Southern California also describes a Ball Swap initiative that exchanges old, unpressurized tennis balls for lightly used ones, extending their playing life before recycling is needed, according to its sustainability information.
Comparable local programs show another route for pickleballs: An official Livermore Area Recreation and Parks District report said a Tri-Valley pilot, launched April 15, 2026, had collected approximately 850 used pickleballs and shipped them to BounceBack Pickle for processing and repurposing by July.
Why the group is collecting them
The waste issue is not limited to Santa Monica. Aruba Today cited an estimate of 500 million tennis and pickleballs discarded worldwide each year, including about 125 million tennis balls sent to U.S. landfills. The outlet also reported that roughly 1% of tennis balls are recycled. The Santa Monica Daily Press reported that the rubber, synthetic and felt components can take more than 400 years to break down.
Pickleballs present a separate plastics challenge: Aruba Today reported an estimate of 77 million pounds of pickleball waste worldwide each year and said rigid outdoor pickleballs generally are not accepted in curbside recycling programs.
A proposed policy beyond Saturday
Another Bounce is also seeking permanent collection systems at public courts. The Santa Monica Daily Press reported that the group has urged city councils to require bins for used sports balls, with municipalities responsible for sending the material to specialized recyclers. Malibu Mayor Silverstein said in late August that he would support legislation and invited the group to submit a draft ordinance and present it to city staff, according to the same outlet.
Organizers describe the gathering as the largest sports sustainability event of its kind and hope to establish the record before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, claims reported by the Santa Monica Daily Press. Residents who cannot attend and have balls from residential courts are encouraged to keep them for delivery to collection centers rather than throw them away, the outlet reported.
