Capel Sound Netball Courts Recognised for Sustainable Innovation in Australian First

The redevelopment of the Truemans Road netball courts in Capel Sound has secured the Innovation in Parks, Sport and Recreation award at the Parks and Leisure Australia (PLA) VIC/TAS 2026 Annual Region Awards of Excellence.

The project, delivered through a partnership between the Mornington Peninsula Shire and APT Asia Pacific, is the first in Australia to utilise recycled household paint technology within a professional-grade sports court surface. By using recovered materials into the Laykold® court system, the project demonstrates a high-impact application of circular-economy principles to community sporting infrastructure.

The initiative utilises APT Asia Pacific’s exclusive collaboration with Paintback, Australia’s national paint stewardship scheme, to divert waste from landfill. Through a rigorous research and development process, recovered paint is repurposed into the latex backing of artificial turf products and the hard-court systems deployed at the Capel Sound facility.

The installation, which features approximately 22 per cent recycled and renewable materials, successfully diverted the equivalent of 288 one-litre paint tins from landfill. The project was managed by head contractor iDwala, with installation executed by Grand Slam Surfaces.

Expressing pride in the project’s achievement, noting that the recognition highlights the potential for creative environmental solutions in municipal infrastructure, Mornington Peninsula Shire Mayor, Stephen Batty, said: “Congratulations to the teams involved. This project shows what’s possible when we find a creative way to give new life to a waste product, that would otherwise end up in landfill.”

“The award recognises the vision, collaboration and commitment that is poured into countless projects across the Mornington Peninsula,” Batty stated.

Beyond its environmental credentials, the redevelopment was prioritised for its functional impact on the Capel Sound Netball Club, which supports hundreds of players each weekend.

The new surface offers enhanced safety and longevity, with testing revealing that the recycled-paint system provides roughly three times the tensile strength of the original Laykold formula. This ensures that the courts remain durable under the heavy usage demands of community sport.

This project serves as a model for how councils, manufacturers, and contractors can align sustainability goals with operational performance. 

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