Sports Equipment Disposal
Tennis Ball Recycling with Project ReBounce
In 2021, racquet sports enthusiast Karen Levine approached Urban Impact to facilitate the logistics for diverting end-of-life tennis and squash balls away from landfills. Karen teamed up with Urban Impact to scale Project Re-Bounce.
By leveraging Urban Impact’s dedicated routes, where municipal solid waste was exclusively directed to Metro Vancouver’s Burnaby Waste-to-Energy facility, Project Re-Bounce is able to successfully divert sporting equipment, at end of life, away from landfills.
Since it’s inception, Karen works tirelessly to expand Project Re-Bounce across British Columbia, increasing the types of sports equipment collected and managed.
Why is Recycling Sports Equipment Important
Repurposing and reuse is an important concept in the waste reduction hierarchy and an important component of the work that Project Re-Bounce promotes.
Raising awareness for reuse opportunities, Karen creates promotional initiatives for various sports equipment. In 2022, Project Re-Bounce held a shoe-drive at Vancouver Lawn Tennis & Badminton Club where athletic shoes of donation quality were delivered to two Downtown Eastside support organizations, and athletic shoes beyond donation quality were collected for Waste-to-Energy.
In 2023, project Drop the Gloves ran for a two week period where gloves from any sport were collected. Those of donation quality were delivered to a sports reuse facility and the remainder were included in the weekly Waste-to-Energy collection.
Project Re-Bounce now includes over 15 sports facilities and retail outlets in the Lower Mainland, Victoria, the Sunshine Coast, Squamish, and the British Columbia interior. With the support of Urban Impact and Metro Vancouver’s Solid Waste team, items across the Province are directed to the Waste-to-Energy facility.
Reuse projects are a critical part of reducing the waste. Project Re-Bounce and Urban Impact are here to help.
Only end-of-life equipment is disposed of in Project Re-Bounce collection containers and directed to Waste-to-Energy, not to a landfill.
You can find Project Re-Bounce at these upcoming tennis tournaments:
-
Stanley Park Tournament (July 2024)
-
BC Masters – Jericho (May / June 2024)
- Junior Nationals – UBC (April 2024)
If you'd like to add Project Re-Bounce to a sports event, please get in touch with us.
Urban Impact and Project Re-Bounce can help you and your organization with these easy and recommended steps for diverting sporting equipment.
We recommend starting off with a manageable amount of sporting goods, such as tennis, squash and pickleball balls.
It is simple and should compliment your existing waste collection system. Place clearly marked bins in your facility for the collection of the sports equipment you want to divert from landfill.- Communication channels to your facility users is critical – email and social media are a great way to get the message out, and clear signage near or above the collection bin. Coaches and other staff are also a great way to get the message out to facility users. Karen has lots of great material to share!
- A separate larger collection bin for the accumulated sports equipment will have to be placed in a loading bay or storage area. This larger bin will be serviced by Urban Impact on a regular or on-call schedule.
Reuse rather than Disposal
Reuse of sports equipment such as shoes, racquets and clothing is preferred. It does takes a bit of effort, organization and definitely needs an on-site champion to spearhead the effort. Communication and collection points are reasonably easy to organize, and screening of the donations, making sure that items that can be reused, are key to the success of any reuse program.
First steps in any reuse effort is finding a charity or organization that will receive the sorted reuse items and distribute them to their channels. Consider organizations that support kids sport or adult clothing distribution.
Please remember, the donations will have to be sorted according to the receiving organizations requirements.
Perfect Size for Any Job
PROJECT RE-BOUNCE CONTAINERS
96 Gallon Blue Tote
35”(L) x 24”(W) x 43”(H)
LABELS AND SIGNAGE
Download signage to help your sports equipment diversion efforts run smoothly.
Why choose Urban Impact for Project Re-Bounce?
The Project Re-Bounce and Urban Impact partnership can help your organization safely recycle all sporting good equipment. Whether a school, fitness gym, retail outlet or club, we have a sporting goods waste recycling program that fits your needs.
Facts and Tips
Did you know?
Project Re-Bounce promotions are a great way to raise awareness and increase participation in sports equipment recycling:
- Get a Grip – divert racquet grips and overgrip from landfill.
- Drop the Gloves - divert used sporting gloves from landfill into two streams, reuse/donation and waste-to-energy for beyond donation quality items.
- Don’t Trash the Trunks – divert swim gear from landfill into two streams (donation and beyond donation quality) for swimsuits, goggles, bathing caps, snorkels and masks, flip flops, rash guards.
