BounceBack Pickle. Bringing cracked, broken pickleballs back to life

What if one of the fastest-growing sports in the world also had a hidden waste problem… and no one was doing anything about it?

In this episode of Kitchen Conversations, I sit down with Dillion Rosenthal, the founder of Bounceback Pickle — the first company on the planet turning cracked pickleballs back into brand new ones.

Let that sink in.

“He’s the only person we can find on the planet doing exactly that.”

Dillion didn’t just spot a problem — he built a solution from scratch. From collecting broken balls in local parks… to creating the first-ever recycled pickleball, this is raw entrepreneurship in motion.

And the scale of the problem?

• Hundreds of millions of pickleballs produced every year- in fact over 500 million
• Most broken pickleballs end up in landfills
• A sport exploding in growth — and waste

“There’s got to be a problem here.”

We get into:
• The exact moment Dillion realized pickleball had a waste crisis
• His early hustle (including getting banned from selling at school)
• Building recycling infrastructure from nothing
• Shipping ground pickleballs across the world to create prototypes
• What it felt like to hold the first recycled ball ever made
• Why most recycling… frankly… isn’t real

This is innovation, timing, and grit colliding with one of the biggest blind spots in the sport.

🔗 Live Links

👉 Bounceback Pickle (Official)

https://www.bouncebackpickle.com

👉 Bounceback Pickle Instagram


  / bouncebackpickle  

👉 Follow Dillion Rosenthal

  / dillion-rosenthal  

👉 Learn More About Pickleball Growth

  / usapickleballassociation  

🎯 Hashtags

#BouncebackPickle
#DillionRosenthal
#PickleballInnovation
#RecycledPickleballs
#SustainableSports
#PickleballPodcast
#KitchenConversations
#Entrepreneurship
#StartupStory
#SportsInnovation
#PickleballLife
#EcoFriendly
#FutureOfSports
#PickleballCommunity
#Recyclepickleballs
#Recyclepickle
#Recycleballs

And that wraps up this episode of Kitchen Conversations.

If you enjoyed the conversation, be sure to follow the show, leave a review, and share it with someone who loves the game as much as you do.

And if you want the full experience, including the visuals, head over to YouTube and watch the episode at

https://www.youtube.com/@KitchenConversationspodcast

Or search Kitchen Conversations Pickleball Podcast

That’s where these stories really come to life.

You’ll also find links and show notes in the episode description.

Until next time…

more than dinks, drops and drives…

these are stories from behind the paddle.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hi, and welcome to the podcast. Welcome to Kitchen Conversations, where our goal is quite simple. We hope each episode inspires just one person to pick up a paddle and try pickleball for the very first time. We sat down recently with someone who has done something for the very first time ever. Dylan Rosenthal started a company called Bounce Back Pickle. Dylan is collecting cracked and broken pickleballs and recycling them into new pickleballs. Now, understand the impact of that. It's never been done. No one's doing this. He's the only person that we can find on the planet doing exactly that. We think you're going to find this conversation to be enlightening and fascinating. Enjoy our chat with Dylan Rosenthal on today's episode of Kitchen Conversations. Well, Dylan, welcome to the podcast and thanks for being here. I appreciate your time. I know you've got lots and lots and lots happening in your life. So to uh take a bit of time and to check in with me and to talk about bounce back pickle, it means a world to me. So just want to start by saying thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. And thank you for having me. I'm uh I'm looking forward to this.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

I've got a lot of stuff I want to talk about specific to bounce back pickle and the recycling that you're doing and how that's coming together and how it's going and where you see it heading. But before then, uh, if my research is right, it sounds to me like you've been a bit of an entrepreneur for more than just a day or two. Uh, if my story's right, you were banned from selling things at school at a pretty young age. So before we get into all, yeah, I just and listen, I'm an entrepreneur. We had a family business, Dylan, uh selling heating and cooling product here in Ontario, Canada for about 50 years. So I love that. I love everything about the spirit that goes with all of that, the determination and the passion. So take me back to those young years and tell me about the day you got banned from selling stuff at school. I think it's great.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Yeah, definitely. Um, so I moved, I moved to Florida when I was eight years old, originally from North London, despite my accent. Lost it throughout the years.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Uh sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

And my dad's always been a small business owner, entrepreneur, so I definitely get that spirit from him. But while we're in middle school, or while I was in middle school, about 12 years old, 11 years old, uh, I came across fidget spinners, which was just a craze at the time. Uh everyone was talking about them videos online. They're popping up in YouTube videos of all of our favorite YouTubers at the time. And everyone wanted them. But they were 40-50 bucks on Amazon when they first came out, and no one at my age could afford anything like that for a little toy, and no one's parents were paying for anyone's little toys for 40-50 bucks at the time. So um, I I kind of did some research and saw what they were consisted of and what they were made of. And it was as simple as a skateboard bearing with some weights on the outside. And I had a skateboard that my parents got for me for my birthday one year when I was a kid, and I hadn't rode it in a few years, so I decided to rip it apart and take those wheel bearings out. I ripped them out, grabbed my sister's hot glue gun, and found some marbles from an old board game and hot glued the marbles, the outside of this wheel bearing. It was a little janky, but it worked, and I had my first little fidget spinner. Oh wow. It worked, it was fun. I thought it was the most amazing thing at the time. I was showing it to my parents and they were like, cool. Um took it to school the next day and I was playing with it, and some kid was like, Is that a fidget spinner? And I was like, Yeah. And he was like, Oh, let me play with it. So we started playing with it, and he was like, I'll give you five bucks for it. I want it. Wow. Okay, I've got seven more of these wheel bearings at home, I can go make some more the next day. So I with five bucks in my backpack and some ambition to go make some more, went home, made seven more, and brought them all to school the next day. Another handful of kids wanted to buy them, they're gone for five bucks each, is what I was telling everyone. And I sold the six and I wanted to keep one for myself. And now I had worked up some money and I I figured I could buy one on Amazon. My dad was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, don't spend 35, 40 bucks on one of those things from Amazon. They're all just coming from China. So I was like, what do you mean, China? And I was too young to understand that all this stuff's getting made out in China for way cheaper than we could find anywhere in the States. So again, I did some digging, saw that you could buy these things from China for a couple of bucks each, and I was like, this is where it is. So I bought, I think it was like eight or ten of them from some Chinese website similar to Alibaba, AliExpress, and started posting them on my Snapchat story and on my Instagram. And kids were kids were asking me, Well, I'll buy it from you, how much, how much? And at this point, I'm undercutting Amazon's costs, which was almost unheard of because Amazon was just kind of screwing people out of the park from those Chinese um gadgets, I guess you could say. And the fidget springers grew to phone cases and chargers and and different fidget products, and it was a bit crazy at the time. Um I I played soccer at a at a club level and got a buddy on my club soccer team who was at the rival middle school to start selling for commission uh at at the time. And so I I had my my school, my soccer team, and the rival middle school, I kind of built an empire of like from fidget spinners to phone gadgets and accessories. And eventually the school caught wind of it, my school in particular, and they they didn't like what I was doing. They saw I was bringing a second lunchbox to school every day filled with cases and projects and everything to I don't know. I would almost open it at lunch and people would come over and pick out what I was doing. And one of the deans came over and she brought it up to I guess the higher-ups in the school, and they told me they made an announcement at lunch, no more selling things on campus. It's like great. I was making good money with it at the time for a kid, and I was hoping the same thing wouldn't happen with uh my other friend at middle school, which didn't happen for a year or so later. But I thought, how can I continue making money? So I transferred to trying to sell everything online that worked out for a little bit, and then I got into some other things as the crazes died out. But it was uh it was an exciting time. It was the first time I was really able to make any money on anything and give me that kind of first spark as an entrepreneur, with the biggest problem being my school banning me from selling stuff and how to activate and move from in-person to online. So it was an awesome experience and definitely the kick start to everything else I did throughout middle school and high school, which eventually left me to where I am now.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

Wow, what a story. I mean, that may end up being the best part of today's conversation. I mean, I'm blown away. I'm just I'm completely blown away that you take that old skateboard, break it down, build one, really with no intent in that moment to sell it. Some kid says, I'll give you five bucks, you should have said six. I think I think you could have gotten seven fifty. Yeah. I think you undercut yourself, you undercut Amazon. I think you may have undercut yourself, but wow, man, I love that. I just, I, I am so, yeah. Good on you. Good on you. And did that, what did you sense, Dylan? That was always just who you were. I mean, that was sort of the first moment, obviously, the light bulb moment, but you must have just felt that. Yeah, I mean, obviously, you have great leadership skills, you know how to communicate, you know how to build something that people want. You know, did did you sense that prior to that moment, or was it just in that moment?

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Um, I don't think I was honestly, I don't think I was old enough to really understand at that time. But as I continued throughout the rest of middle school and going into high school and kind of switching markets from the little phone gadgets and stuff into like higher-end sneakers and clothing, eventually trying some things that didn't work and failed, which we all learned from. But I think not until the later years of high school did I realize that that's kind of what I wanted to do, in a sense, just something for my own. I I said to, and this is kind of a funny little thing, I said to my parents when they were like, Well, what do you want to study in college? I was like, I don't, I don't know. I just want to buy and sell stuff. Um, and it it took me a year and a half, two years to find the entrepreneurial program that I'm still currently in at school. But uh I don't think it was until maybe 11th grade or or 12th grade that I I really understood that that's what I was here to do.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

Ah, such a great story. Well, listen, it's a perfect segue into where you are today, and thanks for sharing that. I really appreciate you getting into that with me today. I was dying to hear that story when I first read it. So you did a great job with it. Thank you. So tell me about school today. So you're there and and are you at Florida Gulf Coast University? Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 8:20

I am, yeah. I'm uh I'm a senior. Uh I've been studying entrepreneurship here the last three and a half, four years.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

How's that program? Define that, because I don't think we'd have something quite like that here in Canada. So walk me through that program, Dylan. Give me just kind of a broad overview of what it's all about.

SPEAKER_00 8:35

Definitely. The the program is honestly awesome, uh, hands down. So, you know, I went to college and as everyone does, freshman year, I had some fun. Um, I actually joined a fraternity in my earlier years and springs on weekends, and it was good time. And I still had that entrepreneurial spirit in the back of my head. And I I had tried starting a few different things. I uh one of the cool things I did while I was in the fraternity was actually build out uh print on-demand websites for not only my fraternity but the other fraternities on campus with some cool designs, and I didn't have to order anything, just post the designs on the website and send the link to the website to my fraternity and the other fraternities, and I'd make a couple of bucks on the t-shirts that were ordered. So that was one thing I tried. Um, but nothing was really sticking, not crazy traction on anything. Uh actually at some point was making some pickleball merch, which didn't really go anywhere. But again, to my point earlier, you you fail and you learn, so you move on and try new things. But the program is is amazing. It it walks you from idea stage to launching to raising capital to promoting, whether it's social media, uh general advertisements, and all of the classes are structured in a certain way. So for our finance classes, we're learning how to do our own QuickBooks on like a mock business that we come up with, or in uh a launching new venture class. Uh, I think they've switched it in the last year or so, but now it's come up with a service business, build an app for it and launch it and just see what happens. And uh another this is a this is actually one of the most notable kind of class assignments we have here is it's called the rejection assignment, where we have to go out with a list of 10 things that we know that we're gonna get a no for.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

Oh, no kids.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

We have to go out and we have to go out in public. We went to a local mall, uh, we went into a bunch of stores and it was like question mark things. So actually one of the things was can I can I sweep your floors? And they're they just kind of look at you like you're crazy. And it's just getting yeah, right. It's getting over the fear of like the rejection or the failure or whatever it is that comes along with entrepreneurship. Um great program. And and now it's it's been three and a half years, and last year they launched their first in-house pitch competition uh with awards up to ten, fifteen thousand dollars. They have uh runway program, which is like an accelerator type program where you can gain up to 10, again, $10,000, $20,000 for a business by the end of the semester, assuming you complete all the tasks along the way. And it's it's a great program with a ton of opportunities. A lot of the professors, the way that I like to phrase it is they don't need to be there. They're successful entrepreneurs, they're running businesses on the side, whatever it is, and they just want to be there to help out kids and help the students that are actually taking action on whatever it is, be mentors, um, provide their resources, whether it's connections or real industry insights. It's it's an amazing program. And I actually think they're rated the fourth highest public school public entrepreneurship program in America, to my knowledge, um, based on size of students and revenue that's been generated from student businesses.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Wow. Incredible. Well, listen, just to touch on a point you made about rejection and going out and getting those rejections about sweeping a floor or doing whatever. You know, I've been in sales my whole life, Dylan. So 40 plus years of trying to pedal something for some profit. And I remember having a bit of a rough patch. Uh, it went to my sales manager at the time with selling radio advertising, which is a tough sell, by the way. You're selling 30 seconds worth of air. It's a tough one. Uh, and I didn't like it. I didn't like it much. I wasn't particularly good at it, but uh was really down to myself. And he sat me down and he says, Michael, who is the greatest baseball player in the world? And I said, Well, Errol, I have no idea. I'm not a ball guy. So he told me, whoever it was, and he said, You know what his batting average was? I said, Errol, I didn't know his name. I don't know his batting average. I don't even know what a batting average is. So get to the point. He said, Listen, he might have hit the ball three out of 10 times at the plate. If he had a good year three and a half times out of 10 at the plate, he says, You're doing better than that. You're doing better than that. So calm down, take a breath. This is sales. Welcome to the world of sales. And and maybe Dylan for me at that point, I was probably about your age, uh early 20s. And uh, you know, that was a really good thing to figure out at that point. So good on you and good on the school. I, you know, when I sit back and listen to your first story about the spinners and I think about where you are now, it almost sounds like they built that school just for you. Like, I mean, they should have put your name on the wall, maybe. It's that's really awesome. So, well, thanks for all of that. Let's um let's jump into pickleball. Let's talk about your passion as a player and a fan of the game, and then ultimately, how does that lead to uh bounce back pickle and uh and then we'll get into all the details on that. But tell me about your passion for the game and how much you love it or you don't love it, perhaps.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

No, I I mean I love it. I I got first got introduced to the game really I want to say three, three and a half years ago now, which sounds like a while for me. Um, or it is a while for me. And I started playing first year of college. We would go out to the local park with friends, would meet people every time we went out. It was like you were saying at the beginning of our conversation, it's such a social sport. And it's one of the things where every time you go, you get slightly better. And you can learn a new thing, learn a new trick, you meet someone who can teach you something, or you meet someone who you can teach. It's it's really simple. Anyone can play, you can ask anyone to come with you. It's not like a oh, you you don't fit the criteria to play this sport. All you need is a paddle which you can pick up for 10, 20 bucks and a good attitude to get out there. Um so I've been playing for the last three, three and a half years. Uh on and off when I first started, it was just whenever my friends would go out there. I I will say I've been playing for a few years. I'm not good in any sense.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

Well, that's all right. None of us are. We think some of some of us think we are. You at least you at least have figured out I'm not any good. Okay, I'll own it. But you know, just to jump on that for a sec, Dylan, yeah, if you were to say to me, what do I love about it outside of the socialization, the physical? I mean, I love count and step, so it's it's not a problem to get my 10,000 a day playing a couple hours of pickleball. But, you know, I think it's a fact that this is one of the few games on the planet that you can plug in to your point at whatever level. You don't need to be a pro or an elite player. I'll reach really high here. But you know, you can plug in with your group of friends and have the best time of your life. And the learning curve, and I think you touched on it briefly, is just almost ground zero to being okay in about, you know, four hours. It doesn't take long. So grab great points, great points. Let me just ask you quickly about your friend group. Like, you know, I think if there's a concern we have as pickleballers, the older group, which I am slowly melding into, uh, do you got a lot of your friends playing? Are you seeing a shift in the demographics of pickleball in your part of the world?

SPEAKER_00 15:17

A hundred percent. Uh, when when we would first start going out to play, it and we would tell the outside pickleball friends that we were playing pickleball, they're like, isn't that an old person sport? We're like, well, we don't really see it as one. I mean, it's fun. Like, just come out and try it with us. And even when I first came up with the bounce by quick wheel and the business idea, some friends were like, Isn't that an old person sport? Or when I was excuse me, pitching at some pitch competitions, the judges would say, How did you get into this? Isn't it an old person sport? Over the last couple of years, I think the age has gone down to like an average of 30 something years old, which it's uh what started as a retirement community sport is now being played at a professional level by 15-year-olds. Um, and the gap of age is closing, and the normality of playing at a young age is I mean it's normal. It's not like you don't get a a weird eye when you say, Oh, I play pickleball anymore, which I think is awesome. Um, and kids my age and students and younger guys and girls, they they are realizing it and they're more willing to get out and play instead of just not willing to even try.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

Yeah, well, that's great. I I'm encouraged to hear that because I think I agree with all you're saying. In fact, I just saw something on Global Pickleball Report talking about the demographics dropping pretty steadily, which is good. It's good for the game, and and I think we need to see that shift. And and I've got some questions specifically about the game and where it's going before we leave. So don't let me forget to ask you about which what your concerns are about the future of pickleball. Because at 59, my memory's not what it is, uh, you know, was at least at 20. So keep an eye on me. Um, so let's talk about the moment for you. You're out playing, you're loving the game, you're enjoying it all. What did you just bend over at one point, pick up a crack ball, and think to yourself, what am I doing? Like, because that was me. I mean, we I think within the first couple of games I played somebody else's crack ball. And I like for me, first-time player, you're trying to figure out what they are talking about. And then they explain, well, these things will crack so every so often, and and they're no good. Like you lose the bounce, obviously, and they're no good for gameplay. So, you know, it's just part of the learning curve of getting into a game. You didn't realize that that happened. Then I started realizing the volume at which it was happening. And then I started realizing we're doing nothing but throwing these in the trash bin. And that really, as I said earlier, Dylan, really bothered me. And it still does. It's a bit of a hot point for me. You know, I'll be very candid about this. It bothers me. I I hate to say it in these terms, but as much as a game does, as much benefit perhaps as there is in the game for socialization, loneliness, physicality, getting out, getting off the couch, which we need to do, there is a bit of a dark side to it. And and this may be it. And I don't see a lot of places where we're shining a light on that. So take me to the moment, if you can, if you recall, of hey, we got a problem here. I need to figure out a solution.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

Yeah. So again, when I first started playing a few years ago, um, we weren't really breaking balls. We weren't at a level that hitting it hard enough to really break a ball. Some would go soft, and we honestly didn't notice just because we didn't know the difference. Yeah. And fast forward a year, year and a half, um, I was actually out pretty much every morning playing with an older demographic of people, and it was starting to get cold out. And I'm down here in Florida, so it doesn't get very cold, but 50, 60 degrees in the morning, and the balls would crack quickly. And we're playing at a high a little bit of a higher level now. And I I would notice these things every so often, we'd throw it away. And a few times I remember lifting up the flap of the trash can, throwing the ball in there, and I would see 20, 30 balls, way more balls than water bottles in there. Yeah, and I knew that the local parks and rec were uh picking up the trash at least once a week. So I was like, if if my little six-court park is getting 20 to 30 balls, if not more a week, right? And there's however many courts, which we now know, 70 something thousand and growing courts across the country, there's gotta be a problem here.

unknown 19:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Um, and that was kind of like it wasn't the bingo moment, but it was uh let's look into this. So I did, I looked into it, and there were a couple of nonprofits that were uh recycling paperwalls, they were sending them to recyclers. There didn't seem to be much of uh a drive to to put them back into the sport. Um so my kind of immediate reaction when I I found that they were just sending them to recycling partners was well, what if we just turn these old balls back into new ones, like they do with water bottles or milk bottles, whatever it is. And that's kind of the bingo moment where I was like, let's give this a go and see what happens.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

Yeah, excellent. Yeah, you know, it's funny because there's a natural path that you would follow on that, right? You're thinking we're recycling water bottles, we're recycling glass bottles, where, you know, those are becoming ultimately glass products or or again, water bottles, hopefully. But uh yeah, I just don't know how we've missed it. And I don't know how the ball manufacturers, to be quite frank, I think they have some ownership in this problem. I think you look at Franklin Onyx, the others, I think, you know, what are they doing? They're contributing to this problem, and yet I don't see them as being the solution to it. And I would think they'd want to be. I mean, just for the optics of it, it would make sense to me that someone like Franklin would step up and say, we want to be part of this. So, okay, so the idea kind of comes slowly but surely to you. Walk me through the steps then. How does someone like you, with your background and your experience, and obviously you've got your head on your shoulders really well? I mean, your parents must be so proud. How do you take it to the next step? Oh, no, really, listen, I'm a dad of two kids. I'm proud to, you know, I talked to you all day about them. So I know what it feels like when your kids do good things and you're doing good things. So tell me about the next steps. Walk me through the next sort of phase of all this and ultimately land where we are today, if you don't mind.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Yeah, definitely. So the next steps, uh again, I started research at my computer at my desk at my house, and I was like, okay, let's see what we can do here. And I knew that the entrepreneurship program has these programs where you can go through the semester and you do the whole basics of the business, and you kind of launch and get some funding. And I just started super basic. I was like, what can I call this thing? And what's a cool logo that I can have? Right. So I use my good old friend ChatGPT, who I think we're all pretty friendly with nowadays. Yeah. And I came up with a name for it, uh, got a little mock-up of a logo, trying to find it over time, and ordered a big sticker from VistaPrint. And I said to myself, this sticker will go on the first bin that I set out at my park. And I pinned that sticker up on my wall so that I was thinking about it pretty much every day. And I was just doing research, and and the more research I was doing, the more viable it seemed that I could actually turn these things back into new ones. And I would go to some local plastics manufacturers and and just have genuine conversations with them. To pick their brains every day when I was out at the court, I would pick the brains of the players around me to see if if there was a recycling bin here just for pickleballs, is there any reason you wouldn't throw your ball in there? Right. No, no, no reason not. And it's kind of the whole concept of if there's a blue recycling bin in a black trash can and you have an empty water bottle, or you're gonna put it in the black trash can unless you're you know what one of those guys.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

Unless you're one of those guys, yeah. And and there are sadly, there's still some of those guys out there. But yeah, you're right. I mean, given an option, and I think that was my struggle, Dylan, to touch on what you're saying. I when I was first at the club here locally and and we ended up with a crackball or two or a softball to your point earlier. I just, you know, I'm looking around going, it's got to be a bin here. Like I was literally on the hunt in the in the building for a bin because you know, the the game's been around our part of the world now since probably 2011, 2012. It kind of came here because it was late arriving. But uh, I was shocked to not find one. And you're right, if you give me an option, I'm taking it. And I think 99% of the people are gonna take that option. Yeah, great point.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

To your point again, um, the the blue recycling bents, unfortunately, if we throw a pickleball in there, it won't actually ever get recycled. It's a hard to recycle plastic, along with some of the things we were talking about earlier, milk jokes, uh film, they're they're all hard to recycle plastics, multi-level, multi-layer plastics, and they just don't get recycled in all normal waste stream. So uh going back and and I uh so I had this logo on the wall, I was thinking about it every day, and I was just kind of figuring out the logistics of how how am I gonna do this whole thing, how am I gonna launch it? What's it gonna look like? And in the same timing, the school came out with their first inaugural pitch competition, which was uh coincided, it was nothing to do with the um accelerator program they have throughout the semester, and it was if you have an idea, write up a little application paragraph thing and see if you get accepted. So I had this idea, I knew I wanted to do it, I just didn't know exactly how I was gonna execute on it because it really was the biggest, most logistically and operationally challenging thing that I would ever be stepping into. So I applied for the competition and made it through to the next round. And as soon as I made it through, I set out my first recycling bin at my local parks and record. I took some pictures and I made an Instagram account and I posted about it, and people were very confused. I mean, my peers and my friends were texting me, like, what is this? And I was like, just wait, you'll see. Like, I'm working on it. Um, fast forward a month later, it was this pitch competition. I had set out like two or three recycling bins, and these were really just like pilot runs to make sure that I could collect some plastic to move on to the next step, which is remanufacturing one, which we'll get into. But uh this pitch competition was an awesome experience. I got to pitch in front of a panel of six judges after I made it to the finals. And fortunately, I I won the whole thing, which was awesome. So I got some I got yeah, thank you. Um I got some equity free funding to kind of grow the business. And from May, which is when the competition was, my parents saw the whole thing. They're like, okay, you don't need to get a summer internship and do the whole normal thing. Try this out for the summer. So I I went from my two recycling bins local to uh just over 30 recycling bins in Southwest Florida over the summer. I scaled up to the Tampa area, which is just another 10 bins at the biggest clubs up there. I partnered with one of those original nonprofit recycling companies. They're called the Brepickle Project. So we kind of expanded our recycling network out to six other states with 70 or 80 other facilities. And uh our partnership just says that we'll recycle their the pickleballs that they collect. And uh by by the end of the summer, this was starting to get real. Some real traction was coming along, and I was like, okay, I got all these bins out, but I actually need to do what I said I was gonna do, which is turn these things back into new modes. So I had made the connections along the way of where I was gonna do the certain steps with from grinding, breaking the plastic down to then eventually re-molding it. But these partners were all across the country, and I didn't know how I was gonna get it around. And ultimately, there's no pickleball manufacturers in the United States that do the rotational molding, which is the typical outdoor ball that we see over the normalized injection molding. It's a niche in the manufacturing industry. So I found a uh Chinese manufacturer who I unfortunately had to send the plastic to China to do the test run, which kind of goes against the environmental sustainability aspect of the business. But it was one RD thing to get the prototypes, because realistically, a big question at the beginning is how are these balls gonna play? Because if the balls don't play very well, then it it just doesn't really work on the business side. Sure, we're saving a lot of waste, but ultimately we want to make a high-quality pickle and ball that people are gonna want to play with while feeling good about how they're playing the game. So yeah. So by uh October, November ish of this past year, 2025, I got everything together. I had a big box of 70 pounds of powdered pickleballs that I shipped over to China, got hit with some taxes and tariffs and all the stuff, crazy stuff going on in the world. And um I it was a three-month process from them receiving the plastic to making the new balls and shipping it back. And there was a time frame when I was like, are these guys actually gonna do it, or are they just gonna take my plastic and throw it away and send me back their balls, whatever it was? And fortunately, I made a great connection with the uh rep that was out there doing that I was in communication with, and she had sent me videos of the entire process from her collecting the plastic for the post office all the way to the new ball, from putting the plastic into the molds, them actually making them, then drilling the holes in the balls, which you may have seen in some of like our social media content. And it it was really cool to be able to see the process, but I was so eager to get these balls in my hand to see how they actually work. And yeah, so so at this point, also just to throw in there, I had I had slowed down on setting out the recycling bins because I needed to make sure that what we're actually trying to do works before we go and scale this thing. So end of January this year, I got back this big box or two big boxes from China, soldier tickleballs and the world's first recycled tickleballs. And the play quality just from the first feel bounce, I was like, these things are good. So we went out to the course that night, uh, me and some of my roommates, and we played around with them, and they were phenomenal. We honestly just like way exceeded our expectations, especially for the first prototype round of them. We didn't really know what to expect. Um, I don't want to say my expectations were low, but I just didn't know what to expect. So we got them back. Play quality was awesome. And in in the same timing, we had had some great traction on our social media, and a bunch of facilities were reaching out to us to get recycling bins at their facilities, get their hands on some of these early prototypes when they came in. So I started reaching back out to them saying, hey, we've got some prototypes we can send out to you. And the feedback we got, again, just way exceed our expectations. The most commonly they were just getting compared to all of the main name brands. And it's just the best thing that I could have possibly heard. But in the same timing, I was like, holy cow, this business is real. And it's time to figure out how I can get these recycling bins out to as many facilities as possible across the states, how I can bring manufacturing from China to the states, so we're making them locally, and and launch this thing as a one as a recycling service and two as a pickleball manufacturer. And that leads me to where I am now.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

Wow. What a moment though. I I'm just taken by your statement, the first recycled pickleball in the world. I mean, no one takes that from you. Like whatever happens from today on, Dylan, no one, no one in the history of the world will ever take that from you. I mean, to be first in anything, but to be first in something that's so impactful and so good for the planet, I think, you know, congrats to you on all that. What a, what a, I mean, I knew this was going to be a fascinating story. I said to my wife before I came down to the studio today, I said, this kid's, this kid's gonna really, you know, it's it's gonna blow me away. I just know he is, and and you have, you really have. So I'm really taken by you. No, I it's very genuine, Dylan. It's very genuine, it's very sincere, and I'm just taken by you. You know, I think about that box arriving and and that, you know, opening that box and just maybe even the smell. I and you know, senses are important.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

It didn't smell good.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

I was gonna say, but there'd be like this odor from the plastic, and yet you've got this thing that you've created, and you know exactly what it took to get there and the idea and the concept and all the hard work and that single bin and the logo on the wall that motivated you for weeks and weeks on end. And and here they are. I mean, they've arrived. It must have just been mind-blowing. And then you're calling up your buddies, like, got my balls, let's go. And that first serve, I mean, it had to be something. I mean, I assume you hit the first ball. I mean, I hope you did.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

Yeah, yeah, you know, yeah, I did. Yeah. I it not to be like dramatic, it was like a little bit emotional in a sense because it had taken me kind of so long. And yeah, and one of the biggest challenges if from or up until that point was the communication barrier between me and the manufacturer out in China. And actually getting from sending them a bunch of a box just full of plastic to a box full of pickleballs was just awesome. And and we played the first game. Uh, two of my buddies were able to make it out there. So we had a fourth person join us as a random in the game. They noticed no difference. And that to me was that was it. Yeah, I was I was like, this this is real. These balls are real. The quality is is as good as we need it, and and only to improve. And it was a moment.

SPEAKER_02 31:59

Oh, wow. You've given me chills. I mean, it takes a lot to do that for me, but that that story, I mean, it's just it just it's incredible. It's it's gonna be this is gonna be one of the best podcasts I ever do. And if I do 100, that you know, this will be right there. It'll be in the top one. It'll be the number one podcast. I just think there's an appetite for an answer, if that makes sense to you, Dylan. And I really think there's just people like me who care and realize that we haven't done a lot right, and I've admitted that earlier. I think, you know, the opportunity, all I want is an opportunity to do the right thing and make the right choice. And so when someone like you comes along and and offers that, I mean, we can't help but respond. Yeah. And I don't want to be too dramatic either, uh, to your point. But, you know, there's certain moments in history, uh, and I'm sure when the Wright brothers got that plane in the air for a few feet, that was a moment. And I've been to the right airfield. And and and I'll tell you, that was an emotional place. Amelia Earhart's, you know, there's a whole story about her there in a big boulder. And I don't know if you've had a chance to be there, but it's a moment. And uh, you know, I've been on the grassy knoll, you know, uh in Dallas and things like that. And and so, yeah, not to compare that to political history in any way, but I think what you've done is a moment. And I hope that whether this thing takes off in the way that you envision it in the next five, 10, 15, or 20 years, I don't think it's the point. I think the point is you did it and you were the first in the world to do it. And that can't but lead to something better. And whether that's ultimately better for you or better for the world or better for the pickleball community, I just current I congratulate you on all that. It's just phenomenal. So, way to go. Like, way to go. Yeah. Let me ask you a couple of key questions, and I'm watching the clock very carefully, so I won't hold you for too much longer.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

But it's okay. We've got we've got some time, don't worry.

SPEAKER_02 33:28

Okay, is my research right? And I'm and here's where I'm confused. And again, at 59, that doesn't take a whole lot, but here's my confusion. I'm reading online through the Google, which the kids hate when I say, but I'm gonna say it, and Mr. ChatGPT. Is the world producing brand new pickleballs to the tune of about 500 and some million a year? And if so, how many of those are you thinking are getting cracked or tossed out? Is there do you have any research on that that can help support that for me?

SPEAKER_00 33:54

Yeah, definitely. So there unfortunately the data hasn't been like finalized or really supported by a whole bunch of evidence because the explosion in pickleball recently is new but that 500 million number is what I've seen as well. And it at 500 million pickleballs a year is almost guaranteed to be manufactured, and the kind of mass production out in Asia and and yes, is the answer to the 500 million. The waste the the waste number that I've seen online when I first started listening was about 770,000 pounds, which is a crazy number. I don't know what the direct translation of broken balls that is, but I will say that 770,000 pounds I think is an understatement. And the amount of clubs that we're recycling in and the amount of plastic that we've diverted from landfills thus far, based on usage data, and if we scale that data up to the 70-ish,000 ports that are in the United States, it's closer to two and a half million pounds of broken cake balls that just go to landfills every year. And that number's only gonna continue to grow with the sport growing. I know I think year on year, the 2024 to 2025 is just over 20% growth in the sport. And then I I only see the number growing. Um it's the waste is just gonna keep growing with that.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

Yeah, well, you know, and I think one of the struggles I have too, let me just grab one. But you know, when I when I look at a pickleball today, and here's a brand new Franklin X40, but you know, when I look at that, even if I stomp on that today, so it's gonna get a hairline crack somewhere. I'm gonna stomp on it. The there's still a substantial amount of volume in that ball, Dylan. Like you take a cheap water bottle and you crush it, you can get that down to a relatively low footprint. But the footprint of plastic that this creates, I mean, you can only crush that so far. So you think about that amount of balls, the poundage or the ball quantity going into landfill of something that just doesn't compress a whole lot. I mean, that's pretty terrifying. It really is. So let me throw a devil's advocate question your way. Do you believe in recycling? Let's take just one step outside of pickleball. Do you believe that globally, and certainly let's just talk Canada, North America, USA, are is it a real thing? Because there's people that say it isn't. They say, I don't bother with the blue bin because it's just going in a landfill anyway. I believe in it to a certain point, but I've also been to my local recycling depot and I've seen so much cross-contamination in the bins that I wonder if there's a system there to sort it out. So yeah, it was one of the questions I did want to ask you today was what are your gut, like, what's your gut tell you about recycling in the broader sense, not just what you're doing?

SPEAKER_00 36:32

It's a tricky question. Um, and I don't want to kind of overstate myself, but from the research that I've done kind of through bounce back and through the last year or so of being in this field, it really depends on where you're located.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 36:46

There are some recycling facilities and some recycling plants or kind of waste management plants that do a way better job at recycling than others. Some of them have higher tech sorting uh equipment like you were talking about, but there are certain things that just will never get recycled that you would think would. So, for example, um, a lot of food packaging. It's very, very hard to recycle in the natural kind of recycling stream because it's multi-layered plastic and the plastics have different melting temperatures. And unfortunately, a lot of it is BS, a lot of the general recycling isn't real. Yeah, but tons of it just ends up in landfills, tons of plastic. And it's it's unfortunate that it's true. Um and that's just kind of my stance on it. Uh the the blue bins, yes, you can feel good about throwing something in your end that's recyclable. And that's kind of as much as we can do. Yeah. Um same, same it's it's kind of on them in a sense of what they do with it. Uh, and if they're not doing what's right with it and what they claim to do with it. Yeah. Yeah. We as humans can't really do much about it, which uh is is just kind of a benefit to you know, having having a green at a recycled at a pickleball court that you can throw your pickleballs in and no will actually get recycled into something new. And and the transparency behind it and showing the whole process online is important because it's very hard to kind of find mass recycling plants that have transparency in in what they do and their whole process of receiving the different materials and doing what with them.

SPEAKER_02 38:32

Right, right. Well, listen, the reason I led you into that question was exactly that. I think, you know, what I'm hearing from you is a is a commitment to honesty, integrity, and transparency. Is that fair? And, you know, I think it, yeah, if you build this on that foundation, Dylan, you just can't go wrong. I think if people have the confidence, I mean, people are going to likely make the right choice anyway, but there still may be a shadow of doubt in their mind, is this really doing, you know, is this real? But I think your willingness to be so transparent about the process and the steps that it takes to get from from this to that to the new one, I think is pretty phenomenal. So again, I congratulate you on all of that. It's a great step and a smart move. So yeah, well done. Well, listen, let's wrap up by talking and congratulations again. I can't say it enough. So yeah, before I leave that, just I'm so impressed, so proud of you. Yeah, really well done. Thank you. Thank you. So before we uh before we let you go, um, we talked about the sheer number of balls that are being produced kind of today. We agree it's kind of in that 500 and some million range. You know, how many are being cracked? We kind of agree, disagree on some of that. Uh, you know, globally as a pickleball community. Some people probably, you know, poo-poo that and say, oh, it's it's not that bad. And some will say it's worse than it is. So um with the paddle technology, and that's kind of where I want to end the conversation, is it concerns me on a number of levels. I think we're turning these things, you know, in some cases into rocket launchers. I mean, the ball speed that I can generate as a 59-year-old guy, I know I'm not in terrible shape, but I can hit a pretty hard ball. And, you know, you know, eye protection comes into that conversation. Uh, you know, sportsmanship comes into that competition. How hard does someone need to hit a ball in a rec game or a social game, you know, and is paddle technology going to uh impact that? Certainly it is, but I think it's gonna also have a very negative impact on the number of balls that get cracked. So those 500 million that are being produced, we're gonna start cracking a higher percentage year after year, I think, as these paddles get harder and faster. And, you know, where do you weigh in on all of that? And maybe it's, you know, maybe your timing's great because maybe you're it you're running in parallel with the problem getting worse. So at least you're here at the right time. So love to hear your thoughts on that.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

Yeah, uh the innovations in the sport are insane. I think there are more and more people wanting to get into the sport on the in the business sense and just in the playing sense, but you see new businesses popping up, new paddle companies popping up. Like you say, new innovations within the paddles. There's I remember when I first started playing the big thing was the uh honey propylene or whatever the term was, the honeycomb something interior or uh core, and then they switched to the uh foam core. Who knows what's gonna be next? And and some of these high-level pros, I mean, I I actually don't know the mile per hour or whatever it is that they're hitting these balls at. But you see videos and you go watch them in person and these balls are flying over the place. And some of these ball manufacturers are coming up with uh different blends to make the balls last a little longer, but it doesn't account for the fact that these balls still warp and people still throw them away when they warp. And even if they market them as you can't crack them, and if you do crack them, send it back to us, we still see tons of those balls go in our bins that aren't cracked but warped. And like you say, to your point, I think the percent of waste or the percent of those 500 million that get manufactured a year that crack and break and warp and get thrown away, hopefully get thrown away in our recycling bins and we can recycle is only gonna grow realistically. Uh the sport's only growing. It's people doubted it a year or two ago that the growth was gonna slow down, and obviously the growth is gonna slow down, but it's only gonna continue growing. Um, the number of players, the number of facilities, businessmen, investors, people trying to get into the sport with new innovations, it's not going anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 42:19

Yeah, no, I agree with that 100%. Yeah, well, well said. You know, I I was out in California, and my wife and I got out to spend a bit of time out in Palm Springs. We just absolutely loved it. I mean, we could live there in a heartbeat if we could. We figured a way to do it, we'd do it. I love it. It was it was a great winter, but uh, we got out to see some of the pros play. The one uh regret I have of that whole event was I didn't watch closely enough because my assumption is that the ball that goes to the play for one of those events doesn't go into the next game. Like I'm assuming it's a one-game ball. And then I'm hoping, and here's you know, maybe you know, and this is sort of a sidebar question, but I'm hoping that when that ball gets pulled out of a pro event and there's a lot of pro events around the country, I hope they get donated to something or are reused in some way if they're not cracked or warped.

SPEAKER_00 43:00

So that's something we are gonna look into as we grow and scale, especially on the recycling side, because like you say, these professionals they play with the ball for a game or two, and then it's deemed unplayable for them. Uh and that's kind of what I say, you know, if if we're to go out and play the ball would last 20 to 30 games, maybe. And if if the professionals are playing after a game or two, they're just deemed unplayable. And I'm really hoping that these big tournament organizers, the PPA, MLP, all of them have some sort of donation program right now, because those balls aren't ready to get thrown away yet or recycled yet. They they can get played for another 10, 15 at a very amateur level, 30, 40 games. And I don't I don't feel the need right now to go in and say, give me all the balls that Annalie and Ben Jones are playing with for one game, because they still have an afterlife to them and sent in a sense of on the court. I don't know exactly what they're doing with them. Um I I attended the US Open down in Naples, Florida last year. Okay. And I remember that the balls were required to go back into the same bags that the players would take them out of. I don't know what would happen with them afterwards. Um it was very early on in the business and I wasn't in a position to be kind of pitching the idea of me recycling them to anyone. But as time goes on and this business grows, I'm definitely going to be looking at those tournament organizers, as I mentioned earlier, the PPA MLP, and really seeing what they do and hopefully trying to partner with some of these larger leagues to have a recycling bin court side if the ball breaks or if the ball really is dead. Or some sort of donation program where we can get those balls back to maybe inner city kids who uh don't have the ability to go out and buy balls or buy equipment, maybe get some nets up in some of those inner city schools so that these kids can play pickleball because like we're talking about at the beginning of this call, the sport's for everyone. Anyone can go out and play, and as long as you have a good attitude, you walk off the board with a smile on your face. So the possibilities are really helpless.

SPEAKER_02 45:11

I love it. Well, listen, I'm gonna let you go here in a couple seconds, but uh a couple of final thoughts and a favor. And I um I will pay whatever amount of freight I will do it. I'll drive down if I have to. I I need to get my hands on one of your balls. I I I really want to have one in my hands because I want to be able to talk to people about it, Dylan. I want to get on future podcasts and I want to tell them about you, and I want to share the experience that I've had with you today. And I want to be able to show them a ball that game with this one, but I want to say this is one of Dylan's balls. So uh if we can have an off-camera chat later and you can tell me how we can arrange that, send me a note, let me know. I just, I really I'm excited to see one. I'm passionate about what you're doing, and I really want to be able to put my hands on one. So, whatever we need to do to make that happen. And the final favor is I I'm gonna keep an eye on you from here in Canada. I'm gonna watch with my with my RCMP eyes here on you. I'm gonna keep a very close eye on what you do. I I really want to stay in touch with you. And I don't want to become a nuisance. So the favor is don't let me be a nuisance because I'm a retired guy sitting in Canada being a bit bored once in a while. So, but I do want to stay in touch over the next several months and I'd love an opportunity when something exciting happens, whether that's a partnership with a PPA or whether it's some big break in the business or whether you've taken it in a new direction. If you could give me the courtesy of having you back, uh, even for a shorter chat than what we've done today, when I and I do really respect your time. So thank you. But this has been just absolutely mind-blowing for me and uh so pleased to have met you today. So thank you for coming on the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 46:30

No, thank you for having me. I'll I'll definitely send you up a ball. Shoot me your address after this, and and I'll send you up a ball or two. I love it. Yeah, thank you for your willingness to share it with other people and everyone else that you have on the podcast. Um, and then the next few months when we have exciting updates, or maybe even when we start manufacturing in the US and we go for launch, more than happy to sit back down.

SPEAKER_02 46:50

Yeah, and have well, and I and the reason for that deal is somewhat selfish. I think you're just gonna be a great guest in the podcast, so that serves my purpose well. I need I need interesting guests because I'm not that. I'm just here to keep it going. But uh, you know, to talk to someone like you today. I appreciate it. I'm new at it, so I'm trying to try my best. I used to sell furnaces for a living. This is my sidekick now. So what I'm trying to get at is I just think that I think the people I play with and I think about the pickleball community here in my local area, and I know they're just gonna love the story. They're just gonna love the fact that something's happening. And whether you know we can access it now or we can't is not really the point. It's just we're finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel to a problem that I know we all are aware of. We're we're we're all aware of it. So yeah, well, this has been really good. Thanks so much for being here today.

SPEAKER_00 47:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:34

No, thank you for having me.