Atlanta teens get the ball rolling with new recycling effort

Two Atlanta teenagers are using their summer quarantine to start a tennis ball recycling program.

Vincent and Clare Wong are local tennis players for Queen City schools who discovered the idea after seeing an announcement by the Wilson Sporting Goods company.

“We got a sponsorship first from Powers Pharmacy,” said sophomore player Clare Wong, “then

Wilson sent us 20 official boxes we can place in or around tennis courts for people to put old balls in. The box says, ‘For our planet, our sport, our community.’”

The pair have already filled two boxes and almost a third with 200 tennis balls each.

They have established the first container to hold the Wilson recycle box at the Linden City Park courts. Next will be permission from Atlanta, Queen City, McLeod, Bloomburg and Hughes

Springs to have a box at their tennis courts, the pair hopes.

The two have had to solve some basic problems. Who to contact and get permission. How to hang, display and protect the cardboard to survive bad weather.

Now they will regularly monitor the boxes for balls and good care. The supporting local companies receive appropriate tax write-off forms.

Once the recycling container is full, the box is simply dropped at the local post office and all shipping costs are paid for by the company.

The two Wongs said they know the program will succeed only if others join in. They’ve started a Facebook site called “Cass County Recycles” and are giving out appropriate contact numbers.

The two also like to cite the larger picture. Clare is usually the spokesperson who quotes the Wilson website, “Since 2017, the

“We got a sponsorship first from Powers Pharmacy, then Wilson sent us 20 official boxes we can place in or around tennis courts for people to put old balls in. The box says, ‘For our planet, our sport, our community.’”

—Clare Wong

Recycle Balls program has collected 3.5 million balls with the help of 1,500 partners and placing of 12,000 recycle bins.”

Clare and Vincent are children of Paul and Ivy Wong of Atlanta.

Photo by Neil Abeles ■ Kicking off a tennis ball recycling effort at the Linden City Park Courts by filling one boxare, from left, Gary Clayton, Kendra Clayton, Michael Riley, Allie Anderson, Clare Wong, Paul Wong and Bruce Legrow.

Photo by Neil Abeles ■ Linden pharmacist Kenny Powers, center, is shown with the tennis ball recycling box that Vincent Wong, left, and his sister Clare are using for an environmental project at local courts. Powers Pharmacy boosted the effort with an opening contribution.