QC duo continues tennis ball recycling program in Cass County

Kids and adults alike are finding ways to be creative during this pandemic.

Whether it’s catching up on much-needed projects or crafting new ones; people have shown resilience in times of crisis.

Clare and Vincent Wong, standout tennis players from Queen City, are no different and have been on a mission to help uniquely clean the environment.

The two teens started a tennis ball recycling program here in Cass County.

The program is hosted by RecycleBalls which is backed by Wilson Sporting Goods.

Nationwide, approximately 125 million used tennis balls wind up in America’s landfills every year. That is 20,000 metric tons of methane-producing, near non-decomposable rubber waste.

With that in mind team Wong jumped into action. “We had to find a sponsor to start out and Kenny Powers of Powers Pharmacy in Linden helped us get things going,” Clare said. “Wilson then sent us 20 boxes which we hope to set out close to tennis courts here in Cass County.”

Each box holds 200 balls and weighs 26 pounds when full and has a preprinted and prepaid UPS shipping label for its return trip to Vermont.

So far the tennis phenoms have filled three boxes. Drop-offs, so far, are at the Linden City Park courts, Atlanta High School and Queen City Middle School.

Both Clare and Vincent hope to expand drop off points to Bloomburg, McLeod and Hughes Springs if possible, and even have a Facebook page called Cass County Recycles.

There you will be able to catch important updates from the Wong family.

RecycleBalls is an innovative nonprofit organization whose mission is to recycle and reuse every tennis ball in the United States.

The company started in Vermont in 2017 and the tremendous success of its pilot program has allowed them to expand nationwide and help individuals and facilities leverage the lessons they’ve learned in adopting these proven processes.

With a skeleton crew of a half dozen people, RecycleBalls has built a nationwide network of more than 950 partner facilities in nearly every state.

In just three years, the program has been so successful that Chicago-based Wilson Sporting Goods, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of tennis equipment, signed on as the program’s lead sponsor.

Recycling spent tennis balls isn’t as easy as it sounds. Not only do they need to be shredded, but the nylon felt, or fuzz, must be separated out so it doesn’t contaminate the salvaged rubber.

When the tedious process is finished all that’s left is the fuzzy yellow nylon and a fine, crumb-like rubber that they call Green Gold.

The Green Gold is now being tested to make sports shoes, tennis courts, balls for dogs, horse footing, mulch for gardens, revolutionary stucco replacement, footing for playgrounds and a variety of green products.

Both Clare and Vincent, children of Paul and Ivy Wong, hope that the fruits of their labor will yield amazing results in the long run.

For more information on their mission check out the Cass County Recycles Facebook page and visit https://www.recycleballs.org.