Score A Point For Planet Earth

It’s no secret that Australia loves its sports and the environment. And that’s why Game On Recycling is bringing those worlds together to drive positive change and help the sporting community score a point for the environment.

We pride ourselves on being a sporting nation. But have you ever thought about the large volumes of sporting equipment that we discard? It's estimated that each year Aussies use ten million tennis balls, two million basketballs, and over a 1,000 tonnes of ski equipment.

Sending all of these old sporting goods into the waste stream places unnecessary strain on Australia’s landfill sites, as these materials can be easily reused or recycled into new materials. Burying these unwanted sporting goods is neither a responsible nor sustainable solution.

Wouldn’t it be great if rather than ending in landfills, these goods contributed positively to our lives through the provision of a circular approach mitigating the generation of waste? But there is a solution! These materials have value. Collecting and keeping them from landfills means that they can be recycled to become part of the circular economy and reduce the impact on the environment. And that’s where Game On Recycling comes in. 

How It Works

Game On Recycling has a growing network of partners including schools and sports clubs that receive a collection pack designed for them to begin their Game On Recycling journey. Each box comes with a prepaid Australia Post label, allowing free shipping to the recycling facility in Mellbourne, where staff sort between what can be re-used and what should be recycled. Items at the end of their life are shredded or granulated to be sent to local manufacturers in the production of floor covering used in sporting grounds and more. Research is continuing into identifying more value in the materials that can help give back to the sporting community. 

Equipment made for reuse is put into circulation or resold in the tip shop to extend the life of the product. Game On has also worked with local organisations to donate balls that can continue to be used or upcycled into new things - like Most Valuable Planters who have turned donated basketballs into planters to decorate the home. 

At the moment, they are collecting:

• Rackets - badminton, squash, table tennis, tennis 
• Racket sports balls - badminton, squash, table tennis, tennis
• All inflatable balls, including basketballs, footballs, water polo balls, netballs, and soccer balls

How you can get involved

Find a drop-off location

If you’ve got some old sports equipment filling up the back cupboard, you can find your closest drop-off location. If you can't find a collection point near you but have a large volume (over 100 items) of sporting equipment that you would like to dispose of, please reach out to Game On directly.

Join as a partner or refer a club

Game On work directly with local sports clubs to become drop-off locations for their members and community.  If your sports club is not already a partner, you can refer them via the Game On website.

Schools can also join up as a partner to receive a cardboard box with prepaid postal stamps for their end-of-life balls and rackets. 

Recycling used sports equipment is just one of the many innovations being made to keep valuable materials out of landfill. There are now innumerable ways to recycle specific items which you probably use on a regular basis - items as diverse as running shoes, blisterpacks, coffee cups, plastic plant-pots, mobile phones and bread-tags. Recycling is the circular economy in action, where everything is a resource and there is no such thing as waste. All these items are composed of valuable materials like metals, leather, and yes plastic - which shouldn’t be wasted in landfill. But of course none of these items can go in your kerbside bin. That’s why the Recycle Mate app is so great – quite simply, it tells you what to do, no matter where you are in Australia: