Green initiatives

When making the rubber, there is a certain amount of dust that occurs when the tennis balls are buffed. Penn is able to capture it and put it back into our production process. 2 million tennis balls each year are made from that accumulated dust, cutting down on the amount of new rubber that needs to be used.

Until the rubber is cured, it can be reprocessed and is fully recyclable back into the production process.

Penn does not dispose of oil into the environment – the oil used in the machines is regenerated back into the production process and completely used up.

All of Penn’s master cartons are made of 50% recycled material.

All of Penn’s plastic PET containers are made with recyclable materials (PET #1). Did you know that most city recycling programs throughout the US will accept plastic PET tennis ball cans in their curbside container pick-up, along with your plastic soda and water bottles? So….Keep it in Play and recycle your Penn tennis ball cans after each match.

In addition, Penn uses a unique manufacturing process that starts with approximately 25% less material and also recycles 20% of the material used back into the process. Because Penn makes their own cans, any cans that do not meet quality standards can be ground up and recycled back into the production process to make new cans.

Although advancements continue to be made in the recycling industry, there is currently not an efficient and economical method to recycle used tennis balls. However, Penn encourages re-use and re-purposing of worn tennis balls through:

  • Balls are used for a tournament and then put into teaching baskets
  • Balls too old to be used at a club are donated to a school or park
  • Balls too worn to be used for play are used in schools or nursing homes for the bottoms of chairs and walkers

Also, Penn offers its unplayable tennis balls to non-profit organizations (schools and rehabilitation centers) for use on the bottoms of chairs and walkers. We donate these balls (subject to availability) with just a nominal shipping fee.

image description