Pickleball England, Edinburgh Pickleball and two David Lloyd Clubs are the latest partners to join the CRACK’D initiative – the brainchild of leading player Millie Smythe.
With 500 million pickleballs manufactured every year, and 35,000 tonnes of plastic waste produced by the sport globally, she felt that something had to be done.
And she came up with CRACK’D, a company that recycles discarded balls and creates new products.
“It doesn’t take long for you to start realising how many balls you go through, even training sessions, and then on a bigger scale at tournaments and festivals. As soon as they crack a little bit, you can’t play with them anymore because they bounce funny or they damage the paddles, and they’re just chucked into the bin.
“So I was like, ‘OK, surely there’s something being done.”
Millie had honed her interest in environmental issues when she was studying design at university, and already wanted to set up her own business in some way – and this seemed like the perfect way to combine those passions.
“I’m always watching Dragon’s Den. I just love it. So I wanted to do something of my own, and I was like, ‘Even if we make a little difference and can save some of the balls, that’s enough.'”
Sport typically doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to sustainability, not just with plastic waste but also with the amount of travel required at the highest level.
But Millie thinks small steps are important.
“If we can offset our waste, and in any way we can offset the sort of damage we are doing to the planet, then we should be doing that. We should do what we can.”
Millie has been enjoying her time playing in Australia this year, and she hopes that the CRACK’D initiative may roll out there too.
“I am still a newbie here. I’m enjoying the opportunities so much. I’m meeting new people all the time – and with CRACK’D, it’s something I hope to replicate here if it’s successful at home.”
She admits she wasn’t expecting to have such a successful season in Australia – in fact, she wasn’t expecting to get picked in the league draft at all when she put her name in.
“It’s been a goal of mine to live abroad for a while – I just didn’t know where,” she says.
“There’s a couple of pro leagues here. I actually put my name in the draft thinking, ‘No one knows me. I’ll put my name in this season, and then hopefully, by next season, people have seen my name before, and I’ll have more chance of getting in.’
“And then I ended up being the number two draft pick!”
And with medals galore this year, it’s no wonder she concludes: “I’m living the dream right now.”
