The CRACK’D Story
By founder Millie Smythe
CRACK’D was born out of my passion for both sports and sustainability. As a former tennis player from the UK, I was introduced to pickleball and quickly applied my tennis skills to the new sport. What began with learning the basics - like what a dink even is - evolved into competing internationally in an excitingly short amount of time.
With a university degree in design, focused particularly on sustainability, I couldn't ignore the growing issue I encountered on the courts - broken pickleballs were being discarded without a second thought. The amount of waste was staggering, and it became clear to me that something had to be done. I envisioned a solution that would give players a responsible way to dispose of their broken balls while also helping the sport reduce its environmental footprint.
Realizing the sport needed a more eco-friendly solution, I have created CRACK’D - a company dedicated to recycling these discarded balls into new products, offering players a responsible way to reduce the sport’s environmental impact.
500 million
pickleballs are manufactured annually
(bioplasticsmagazine.com)
35,000 tonnes
of plastic pickleball waste is produced each year
(bioplasticsmagazine.com)
Only 9%
of all the plastic waste generated globally is recycled
(United Nations Development Programme)
Around 9 billion tons of plastic have been generated since the 1950s, and of that, more that 90% has been either been incinerated, landfilled, or ended up in the natural environment (including oceans, rivers, and forests).
Approximately 80% of the plastic waste in landfills could have been recycled, but due to a lack of proper recycling infrastructure or consumer participation, most of it is not.
Pickleballs are made from hard plastic which are non-biodegradable meaning they can persist in the environment for hundreds of years if not properly disposed of.
Discarded pickleballs contribute to the overall volume of sports-related plastic waste, which is part of the estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic entering our oceans each year.
Plastic waste is a global crisis - but as pickleball players, we have a responsibility to clean up the sport we love.
Small actions on the court can lead to big changes for the planet. Join the movement at CRACK’D.