Twelve high school students who first came together while helping rebuild their community after the devastating Palisades Fire have set their sights on a new mission: breaking a world record to combat the estimated 500 million tennis and pickleballs dumped into landfills each year.
The teens, who form the newly launched Junior Board of Habits of Waste, announced their campaign called Another Bounce. The initiative aims to collect the most tennis and pickleballs ever gathered for recycling, culminating in an Earth Month collection event April 19.
"We play the sport, we see the waste, and we aren't waiting for adults to fix it," the students said in a collective statement.
Among the board members is Ford Casady, currently ranked the No. 1 junior pickleball player nationally in the under-18 division. He and his brother Boone form the top-ranked junior doubles team in the country. Several other board members are varsity athletes.
The scope of the waste problem is staggering. Industry estimates indicate that 500 million pickleballs are produced annually, while another 330 million to 400 million tennis balls enter the market each year. Yet only about 1 percent of tennis balls are ever recycled, according to United Nations Regional Information Centre data. Stanford researchers have found that 125 million tennis balls are dumped into U.S. landfills annually, and global estimates suggest 95 percent of all balls produced are either incinerated or sent to landfills.
Sheila Morovati, founder of Habits of Waste and mother of board member Leo Morovati, said the students represent the kind of leadership needed to address environmental challenges.
"These students are proving that youth leadership is one of the most powerful forces for change," Morovati said. "This is where their passion for sports and the planet converges into meaningful, systemic action."
The campaign extends beyond simply collecting balls. Students are managing every aspect of the initiative, from sponsorship outreach and logistics to data tracking and public policy engagement.
Their advocacy work includes speaking at city council meetings in Beverly Hills, Burbank, Santa Monica, Malibu and Los Angeles to push for ordinances requiring parks, schools and private clubs to recycle tennis and pickleballs.
The teens are also targeting major manufacturers. They have launched a public email campaign urging companies including Wilson, Penn, Franklin, Dunlop and Selkirk to establish nationwide take-back and recycling programs.
"Our ultimate goal is true circularity," Morovati said. "We are calling on industry giants like Penn, Wilson and Selkirk to step up, create take-back programs and take full responsibility for recycling their own products into the next generation of gear."
Organizations such as Ridwell and RecycleBalls currently shred and pelletize collected balls into new products, though Morovati said the long-term goal is for manufacturers to handle recycling themselves.
The world record attempt will collect balls locally within a 30-mile radius of Pacific Palisades and nationally through shipped donations. Los Angeles-area players and clubs can schedule pickups by student volunteers.
Other Junior Board members include Dara Afshar, Max Ehrman, Rummy Goodyear, Jesse King, Miller Levin, Leo Mahmoodzadegan, Luc Montalba, Milan Ramesh and Vivienne Shiao.
Morovati said the initiative will continue beyond Earth Month as an ongoing program.
"The world record is a way to raise awareness that this issue exists and that we should all participate in the solution," she said.
Habits of Waste is known for spearheading the plastic straw and cutlery ban in Malibu and convincing major food delivery apps to change default settings so customers receive plastic cutlery only upon request, a change that contributed to the passage of California State Bill AB 1276.