Malibu youth push city to require tennis ball recycling Play

A lot of people made fun of Malibu eight years ago when the city became the first in the nation to ban plastic straws and forks. Even Monday night, one of the public speakers took a poke at Malibu for regulating straws but not doing enough to support her cause.

But cities across the world followed Malibu's very public lead, and millions of straws have been diverted from landfills, oceans and wildlife threats.

Now, the same woman who organized youth to ban plastic straws back then has enlisted young Malibu residents on a new green target.

Monday night at the city council, four young pickleball and tennis players asked Malibu to require recycling of tennis balls. One of them was Max Ermine.

"I've grown up in Malibu, coming to Malibu every weekend. People keep choosing this place, and I want it to be a place that is still worth choosing," Ermine said. "I care about the environment, and I've also grown up playing tennis and pickleball. And something that I kept noticing is just how many tennis balls just get thrown out."

"And I always assumed that there was a system in place to recycle them. And when I found out there wasn't, it really surprised me. Malibu has already gone first on something like this. This is one of the first places in the country to ban plastic straws and utensils, so I think Malibu is in a good place to lead on this too."

The city council asked the young men to draft a proposed ordinance and come back to present it to the city council.