New in the sporting industry is the attempt to make high end sports balls more environmentally friendly.

Traditional balls have been made with a polyurethane or synthetic leather outer shell and a rubber air bladder. Unfortunately, aggressive harvesting of rubber can deplete forests.

Today, Fair Trade Sports have introduced high end balls that are made with FSC certified rubber for both the inner bladder and coating over the synthetic leather. The FSC certification means that the rubber (material) is from a responsibly managed forest as outlined by international standards.

Fair Trade Sports provides the FSC certification on it’s soccer balls, volleyballs, futsal balls, rugby balls, footballs and is in the process of completing their basketballs.

So how are the balls viewed by the public?

A user’s view: Becky Bavinger played with Fair Trade Sports soccer balls in a soccer match and reported, "We [the teams] couldn't tell the difference. . . . It played just as great with no change in texture or feel".

Expert opinion: Hugh Casey, former head of the materials technology division at Los Alamos National Laboratory, reported that there are both positives and negatives when looking at natural rubber and performance. On the plus side, natural rubber has more friction thus allowing for more sophisticated maneuvers by players, as well, "Natural rubber has better mechanical properties than synthetic" -- it's stronger and retains its original shape better -- "but ages faster". 

Average Price: One can expect to pay comparable prices to that of other high end sports balls. Midrange balls cost between $30 and $60.

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