With millions of new players picking up pickleball paddles each year, the game is easy to love — but hard on the environment.  “There’s over 500 million pickleballs being created every single year, which translates to 77 million pounds of plastic waste,” said Taylor Loewen with Ridwell, a doorstep recycling service known for collecting hard-to-recycle materials like batteries and plastic film.
Now, they’re adding dead pickleballs to the list. “If you are an elite-level player, maybe a pickleball can last for two or three hours,” said Hunter Russell, head pro at Jumbo’s Pickleball. Once the bounce is gone, most of those balls end up in landfills. Ridwell is offering a smarter solution. “We’re partnering with specialty recyclers including Merlin Plastics, Hydroblox, and Marble Plastics, giving new life to that plastic,” Loewen said.
In a new pilot program, Ridwell has teamed up with Jumbo’s Pickleball locations in Portland and Beaverton to make recycling even easier. Courts now double as collection points, with drop bins available through July 15. “Jumbo’s Pickleball was extremely happy to partner with Ridwell to recycle pickleballs, and make sure that we’re caring for the environment,” Russell said.