In collegiate tennis, the use of tennis balls is extremely high, a can of balls is opened in every set. Consequently, a match could use anywhere between 12 and 18 cans of tennis balls. Each can contains 3 balls, costing $4 per can, and the total cost could go up to $72 for 51 balls in one match. Considering all matches in a year, an appreciable amount of financial and material resources are expended solely for tennis balls.
Having realized the need to have a more sustainable approach, Coach Bobby Bayliss was on the lookout for innovative solutions to to improve the means through which department funds were used in lieu of sustainability. While exploring initiatives at other universities, Bayliss found the Green Tennis Machine (GTM). First developed by PHD students who had a keen interest in engineering, this machine was created to renew old tennis balls for longer usage and limit the number of purchases after certain periods of time. The GTM is factory installed with a dual-action compressor and an adjoining heater.
About 10,000 tennis balls, which would have otherwise landed up in landfills, are efficiently saved from a destination by Notre Dame’s men’s and women’s tennis teams at GTM about 20 times a year. Used balls accumulated from tournaments held on their courts are put to further use. The plan, however, goes still further, as Coach Bayliss indicated. Once they are unfit for college play, the balls are usually given to various nursing homes, where they are referred to as “w-
Coach Bayliss and his team have not only resolved to repurpose their tennis balls, but they have also focused on recycling the metal seal rings from the cans used for the balls. The used rings are then brought to a near recycling facility for weighing and sorting. The money derived from this recycling process is then donated to the Ronald McDonald Rooms located in Memorial Hospital, thus carrying out their commitment towards giving back to the community and the environment.