New Rochelle Recycles Sports Equipment Through 'Retour Tennis'

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - A new GreeNR initiative is providing local tennis players at the Pinebrook Courts in New Rochelle the chance to recycle their used or dead tennis balls to be repurposed into fresh equipment.

The City of New Rochelle was approached by the initiative in April of 2016, since then New Rochelle Parks and Recreation has recycled over 1,000 tennis balls at Pinebrook Tennis Courts.

Photo Credit: City of New Rochelle

Zak Failla

08/19/2016 9:00 a.m.

Earlier this year, New Rochelle Recreation Supervisor Frank Bernabei initiated the tennis ball recycling program, which allows the Department of Parks and Recreation to quickly and easily collected unwanted balls that would be otherwise thrown away.

In April, city officials installed green “Ad-In Bin” to the outside fence of the Pinebrook Tennis Courts, where players can discard used, unwanted tennis balls, which are then shipped to be recycled for free. Since the program began, more than 1,200 tennis balls have been collected.

According to Bernabei, the program and bin, which were created by Detour Tennis, aims to educate communities about the importance and value of recycling tennis balls.

“We are thrilled to be a part of this green initiative,” Parks and Recreation Commissioner Bill Zimmerman said in a statement. “The bin is easy to use and extremely effective.”

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