By Jen Alexander
When one thinks about saving the earth, tennis usually doesn’t come to mind, but it does if you are Adrien Holdinga. The Marathon High School tennis star is slated to achieve his Eagle Scout ranking if he completes a qualifying project. Holdinga wanted to combine his passion for tennis with the Eagle Scout opportunity and came up with an eco-friendly tennis ball recycling project.
Holdinga has coordinated with Marathon Community Park and now has a bin available for patrons to recycle used and unwanted tennis balls. His goal is to collect 200 balls in two months – and he already has 75. The bin is located by the public tennis courts in Marathon, and there is a banner next to the bin with a recycling logo.
According to official Boy Scouts of America regulations, in order for candidates to become Eagle Scouts, they need to demonstrate leadership and contribute to a qualifying project for their community. This project must be beneficial to an organization other than the Boy Scouts of America and it cannot be performed for an individual or a business, nor can it be commercial in nature. Completing such a project is a requirement to attain the Eagle Scout rank.
“I saw the idea at a tournament in Miami and wanted to do something similar here in Marathon to benefit my community,” said Holdinga. “All the tennis balls I collect will be donated to Wilson.”
The top tennis retailer has partnered with recycleballs.org to help with tennis ball recycling. According to its website, 125 million used tennis balls end up in landfills every year, racking up 20,000 tons of non-decomposable waste. The recycled tennis balls are ground up and used to make things such as new tennis courts, natural rubber ground cover and rubberform sign bases – with T-shirts and shoes soon on the way.
Got some worn-out tennis balls lying around? Deposit them in the bin at the Marathon Community Park public tennis courts, located on the west side of the park at 200 36th St. For more information about recycling tennis balls, visit www.recycleballs.org.
