The Winston-Salem Open is partnering with a startup to recycle used tennis strings from some of the world’s biggest players—and their fans—into high-performance apparel, which will then be sold in the tournament next year.

LET, a startup founded by undergraduate tennis players at Boston University, is the tournament’s official tennis string recycling partner, marking a first for the professional sport, the WSO said in a recent statement.

The strings collected throughout the tournament week will come from some of the world’s best players, including defending champion Márton Fucsovics and top-20 player Luciano Darderi, WSO said.

Fans can participate too. The first 500 fans to donate used tennis strings on the tournament’s opening day will receive complimentary admission. According to LET, it takes about 15 rackets worth of strings to produce a high-performance shirt.

“We’re always looking for meaningful ways to enhance the tournament and benefit the local community,” said Jeff Ryan, Winston-Salem Open Tournament director, in a statement.

“The partnership with LET helps us keep used strings out of our local landfills while giving that material a second life as apparel,” he added. “It’s a simple initiative that we believe can make a meaningful difference and hopefully encourage more sustainability initiatives across tennis.”

LET, previously known as Orobor, partners with tennis facilities, tournaments, and teams to collect used polyester tennis strings, which will then be brought to its partner recycling facilities to be turned into virgin-quality materials. These materials then get crafted into high-quality and sustainable fashion items, according to its official website. With over 200 collection partners, LET said it has diverted nearly 11,000 pounds of used tennis strings from landfills.

Professional sports can be a powerful platform to promote recycling, even when the sport itself tends to generate a lot of waste. For example, professional football players typically only use one uniform per game, after which it mostly becomes textile waste. This year, many athletes at the FIFA World Cup wore jerseys made from recycled materials provided by the likes of Nike, Adidas and Puma.

The same is true for Tennis, wherein more than 25 million pounds of polyester strings get thrown each year to landfills, where it could take as long as 500 years for them to decompose.

Jakob Esterowitz, LET co-founder and CEO, is hoping this is the first of many tournaments that take such initiative.

“Every tournament generates used polyester string that has traditionally been thrown away,” Esterowitz said. “We’re partnering with the Winston-Salem Open to show that it can instead become the foundation for something new, and we hope this is the first of many tournaments to embrace that vision.”

The WSO serves as the final tour stop prior to the US Open. It will be held from August 22 to 29 at the Wake Forest University , according to its official website. It will feature a 48-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw, with total prize money of over $775,000.