Veolia will sponsor two upcoming Professional Pickleball Association Tour events in September, the Veolia Pickleball National Championships in Cary, North Carolina, and the Veolia Arizona Open in Mesa, Arizona, extending a three-year partnership through which the company provides water refill stations, a paint recycling program, recycled-material benches and pickleball recycling initiatives at tournaments. Veolia sponsors six tournaments annually on the professional tour. The two September events are expected to draw a combined 31,000 spectators.
Through water refill stations deployed at PPA Tour events, Veolia estimates more than 166,000 single-use plastic bottles have been avoided since the sustainability initiatives began in 2025. A separate paint recovery program collects leftover court-marking paint in 55-gallon drums from tournament sites, including locations in Cape Coral, Florida, McKinney, Texas, Atlanta, Georgia, and Mesa, Arizona, transporting it to Veolia's solvent recovery facilities for processing and reuse rather than disposal. Veolia estimates it has collected at least 48 drums, equivalent to more than 2,000 gallons of material, across 12 PPA Tour tournaments to date.
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Laurent Obadia, Veolia's Deputy CEO in charge of Stakeholders and Communication, said "pickleball's growth presents a unique opportunity to demonstrate that sustainability can grow with the sport itself," adding that the partnership shows how "simple, measurable solutions can reduce waste, conserve resources and create lasting benefits for host communities while enhancing the experience for players and fans as the sport continues to grow." Connor Pardoe, founder and CEO of the Carvana PPA Tour, said "fans increasingly expect organizations to take sustainability seriously," and that the partnership demonstrates sustainability "can be visible, practical and measurable."
Beyond tournament operations, Veolia has committed to community engagement projects in each host city; in Cary, North Carolina, a local Veolia team and PPA Tour players will help restore a community garden, with a similar initiative planned for Mesa.
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Ankit Palan
Sustainability Content Strategist
Ankit Palan is a Canada based writer who has been writing about sustainability for the past four years. He focuses on making topics like climate change, ESG, and responsible business easier to understand and more relatable. His work looks at how sustainability plays out in the real world, across businesses, finance, and everyday decisions, without overcomplicating it.
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