It’s not clear who exactly is throwing out all these bowling balls.
August 16, 2021 4:02 PM   Subscribe

No, you can't recycle bowling balls. Bowling balls are made of polyurethane and liquid plasticizer with weighted cores made from polyester resin filled with varying amounts of calcium carbonate, barium sulfate, and glass microspheres.

Want to learn more about how they're made? [YT link, text here.] If you still have a burning desire to know more about bowling balls then InsideBowling has a three part video series on the history of bowling balls. (Part 2, Part 3)
posted by forbiddencabinet (41 comments total) 17 users marked this as a favorite
 
I feel like if you had enough bowling balls, you could use them to make a fence, like those fences made of stones. They could be a unique landscaping thing. You can clearly drill them, so put rebar through to make them even easier to work with.
posted by blnkfrnk at 4:54 PM on August 16, 2021 [10 favorites]


You can clearly drill them, so put rebar through to make them even easier to work with.

MEGABACUS
posted by zamboni at 5:05 PM on August 16, 2021 [90 favorites]


I suspect that the breakage of balls being drilled for rebar would be prohibitive. Maybe as a ingredient in aggregate for concrete?
posted by Ignorantsavage at 5:16 PM on August 16, 2021


From the article, apparently they grind them up for asphalt but it's prohibitively expensive. Bowling balls seem really useful as some kind of building material, though, it seems a shame to waste them.
posted by blnkfrnk at 5:21 PM on August 16, 2021


And in 1987, a zoo in Illinois gave them to animals as toys, but they damaged cages, plugged draining holes, and inspired an alarming possessiveness in at least one male lion.

Man, "a zoo in Illinois"? That's specific and not specific at the same time, when I might have thought this happened at lots of zoos. It was a tantalizing factoid for me because I coulda sworn that at the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington, the big cats had bowling balls to play with. Well before 1987, I would guess. I don't remember clearly if I ever saw them batting the balls around.
posted by polecat at 5:23 PM on August 16, 2021


There are a few other possible re-uses.
posted by sysinfo at 5:47 PM on August 16, 2021 [2 favorites]


Everything on Earth can be relatively cheaply 'recycled', in a manner of speaking, by throwng it into an active volcano. Or so I thought I heard Jack Handey say a while back.
posted by zaixfeep at 5:54 PM on August 16, 2021 [4 favorites]


They are probably all from estates. Almost every estate sale I have been to in Wisconsin had a bowling ball in the basement or attic or possibly multiples. Back in the 50s and 60s pretty much everyone bowled here. Not very many people do now.

There are so many balls, usually in their own musty bags, sometimes with vintage score sheets and what-not. They don’t sell too well. At an estate sale recently I picked up a scrapbook that was a woman’s entire life in bowling, complete with the receipt from buying her first ball in 1955 or so. It was pretty neat, but kind of sad.
posted by Slinga at 5:58 PM on August 16, 2021 [14 favorites]


This isn't as much of a problem in Massachusetts. Bostonians have wicked small balls.
posted by adamg at 6:07 PM on August 16, 2021 [1 favorite]




MEGABACUS
posted by zamboni at 8:05 PM on August 16


Thanks, zamboni! Now I have the concept and title for my Burning Man art funding request ...
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:54 PM on August 16, 2021 [7 favorites]


Everything on Earth can be relatively cheaply 'recycled', in a manner of speaking, by throwng it into an active volcano. Or so I thought I heard Jack Handey say a while back.

Heh. On a similar but more serious note, I’ve always thought that the biggest boon to humanity that would result from the invention of a matter transference device (even assuming it wasn’t deemed safe for human transport) would be the creation of a relatively clean method for garbage disposal. You build a series of giant input devices in various stations all across the globe wherein the waste of every nation gets loaded in, atomized, and then beamed straight into the heart of the sun. No fuss, no muss!
posted by Atom Eyes at 7:25 PM on August 16, 2021 [1 favorite]


What are these people on about?

I perfected the means to recycle bowling balls years and years ago.

You just need a pneumatic cannon and a solid cube of reinforced concrete about 5 meters on a side.

Fire the bowling balls with sufficient velocity at the concrete cube and they simply vaporize into carbon dioxide and short chain hydrocarbons, which is really good for plants.
posted by loquacious at 7:33 PM on August 16, 2021 [4 favorites]


I’m composting my bowling balls. It’s been a while but just a few more turns of the composter and I’ll have killer zucchini for everyone.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:40 PM on August 16, 2021 [6 favorites]


It makes a handy storage container for the possessed skull of your father
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 7:41 PM on August 16, 2021 [23 favorites]


Recycling: If we could get bird-bath producers to employ them as gazing balls they'd reappear out in lawns across North America.
posted by Rash at 10:39 PM on August 16, 2021 [2 favorites]


For a while I used a beautiful old bowling ball as a grand toothbrush holder in a bathroom that had an awkwardly large counter. The ball sat on a metal ring thingy and the toothbrushes, obviously, stood in the finger holes.
posted by niicholas at 11:53 PM on August 16, 2021 [15 favorites]


Well, I just had the best idea ever while I was thinking about bowling balls in the shower. Let's say you have a lawn, about the size of a tennis court. Astroturf would also probably work. Build a lip around it and dig some holes in the corners; make a big triangle frame and you've got lawn pool!

If you had an old cracked swimming pool you don't want to fix up, it'd probably also be totally sweet to see if you could bowl them down one side and up the other like little skateboarders, too.
posted by blnkfrnk at 12:18 AM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]


I learned SO MUCH from watching the How They're Made video linked above.

I have a strong feeling none of you have watched it — maybe not even the original poster of this article — but I'm telling you it is not to be missed.
posted by andreaazure at 12:19 AM on August 17, 2021 [8 favorites]


Metafilter: It makes a handy storage container for the possessed skull of your father.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:37 AM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]




If we could get bird-bath producers to employ them as gazing balls

My inlaws had bird-bath bases with multicolored bowling balls on each lining their driveway. If there's two things that you find on the curb for free consistently it's bird-bath bases (the bowl gets knocked off and broken) and bowling balls.
posted by AzraelBrown at 6:03 AM on August 17, 2021 [4 favorites]


I feel like if you had enough bowling balls, you could use them to make a fence, like those fences made of stones.

Or use them instead of stones in those retaining walls that are made of a wire grid filled with stones. I can't remember the name of them right now. Gabion walls! It came to me. A very colorful option the HOA is sure to adore.
posted by Orlop at 6:04 AM on August 17, 2021 [4 favorites]


andreaazure: "I learned SO MUCH from watching the How They're Made video linked above."

I'm out there sourcing this powder, this powder, and ... this powder to make my own core. Later I'll look for ballscoscity.
posted by chavenet at 6:33 AM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]


Based on some of these comments alone, there is clearly an opportunity for a start-up/think tank that promotes viable ways to Get Rid of It. Like, go-Uber-but-don't-go-Uber, just become the beginning of what must surely be a tidal phenomenon waiting to happen. We are seeing all the disparate pieces in these MeFi threads daily, but it would be cool to harness some brain power and devote it to this question and make some damn money while you're at it. I mean, apparently there is endless money to be made in suffering and death.. don't you suppose there are residual profits for activity that doesn't actually suck? Anyone?

@Slinga (At an estate sale recently I picked up a scrapbook that was a woman’s entire life in bowling, complete with the receipt from buying her first ball in 1955 or so. It was pretty neat, but kind of sad.) I like to think your eyeballs passing over that information was at least a final testament to one person's passion.. many of us don't get even that. Makes me think of the time I accessioned a fellow's dance cards from years of social functions when he was attending university.
posted by elkevelvet at 8:21 AM on August 17, 2021


I learned SO MUCH from watching the How They're Made video linked above.

Yeah as a long-time fan of How It's Made, that youtube series is a worthy followup and highly informative. I've certainly learned things I didn't expect to learn!
posted by traveler_ at 8:32 AM on August 17, 2021


Yet another benefit of candlepin bowling: smaller balls => less non-recyclable waste.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:33 AM on August 17, 2021


This place makes worry stones out of bowling balls. I have a couple and they're quite pleasing.
posted by Mavri at 8:44 AM on August 17, 2021


I learned that "How It's Actually Made" is a series on which I will pass in the future. I know, I'm a killjoy for cringing at that dude's voice and the funny funny writing.
posted by desuetude at 9:07 AM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]


Haha, you're right. I didn't watch that video. I found and watched the right one, but it was in low quality, so I clicked what I *thought* was a higher quality one and clearly wasn't paying enough attention.
posted by forbiddencabinet at 9:09 AM on August 17, 2021


Some people use bowling balls as raw material for woodworking-adjacent shop projects. It looks like this generates a big mess of plastic shavings, though. I don't know what use those would be.
posted by Western Infidels at 10:12 AM on August 17, 2021


Based on some of these comments alone, there is clearly an opportunity for a start-up/think tank that promotes viable ways to Get Rid of It. Like, go-Uber-but-don't-go-Uber, just become the beginning of what must surely be a tidal phenomenon waiting to happen. We are seeing all the disparate pieces in these MeFi threads daily, but it would be cool to harness some brain power and devote it to this question and make some damn money while you're at it. I mean, apparently there is endless money to be made in suffering and death.. don't you suppose there are residual profits for activity that doesn't actually suck? Anyone?

Recruit one of those billionaires who wants to go to some final frontier new to Man and get them to fund a project drilling a garbage chute down to Earth's molten core. Maybe the Boring Company would do it, for publicity.
posted by trig at 12:35 PM on August 17, 2021


This place makes worry stones out of bowling balls

I'm at a stage in life where I'm getting rid of things, so I'm not personally interested, but that does seem like a cool use for them. But even though some of the recycling ideas are quite ingenious, it makes me think of rag rugs - which are theoretically a great idea for old clothes, but realistically, how many rag rugs can you use? You might have the most brilliant use in the world for old egg cartons, but there are so many frickin' egg cartons in the world, it doesn't seem possible to avoid huge amounts of waste. The garbage folks in the US generate just living their lives is so appalling, and I don't know if we'll ever really do anything about it.

What I don't get are people just putting the balls into recycling bins (I read the article this morning and can't access it again - so I hope I'm not misremembering). I can't imagine assuming that's going to be OK. But I have a feeling I would be shocked by what people put in recycling bins.

Vaguely related: I went to college with a guy who paid for his education with money he won in bowling tournaments. He didn't normally tell people because he was embarrassed, but I always thought it was cool. (In-state tuition at University of Kansas in the mid-80s if that story doesn't sound plausible to people who know more about bowling tournaments than I do.)
posted by FencingGal at 1:45 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]


I learned that "How It's Actually Made" is a series on which I will pass in the future. I know, I'm a killjoy for cringing at that dude's voice and the funny funny writing.

I love that show and series except for the first season with Mark Tewksbury doing the narration. His voice and cadence is just kind of irritating. Sorry Mark. It's all about the later seasons with Lynn Herzeg, June Wall and Lynne Adams.

The puns never end though. There's always at least one per segment, usually in the introduction. Some of them are very, very bad puns.

Also there's all kinds of factual errors in that show or things they gloss over or just don't get right for some reason. There's a few episodes about stuff I know fairly well where it's just patently wrong or oversimplified, so I can only guess that the rest of the episodes have similar levels of errors.

Anyway, the real point of that show isn't about the factual accuracy or learning anything meaningful. It's real purpose is to distract people of a certain type of mind or temprement until they get so bored that they reliably fall asleep.
posted by loquacious at 3:08 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]


There are a few components to this problem. If you wanted to recycle bowling balls into something other than a roadside attraction or pyramid (which will use up a finite number of balls anyway, even if you get states competing for the "Largest Bowling Ball Pyramid in the WORLD!" title), then they probably have to be reduced to small chunks. Chemical breakdown or incineration is probably possible, but prohibitive from a toxic by-products standpoint. I don't think it makes sense to design a process specifically for bowling balls, so whatever technique should be something already happening, you just introduce bowling balls into the process. I can't believe it is harder to break bowling balls up than it is to produce gravel, so maybe drop them in the quarry so they get pulverized with the bigger rocks. Call the result "Harlequin Gravel" and sell it to landscapers for crazy money.
Or don't grind them, just use them for trebuchet ammunition. That's always good.
posted by coppertop at 7:19 PM on August 17, 2021


Is there a volcano that I can catapult bowling balls into? That seems like a viable tourist attraction.
posted by blnkfrnk at 8:39 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]


Looking at those worry stones, it occurs to me that bowling balls might make good jewelry for stretched/gauged body piercings. Not what I'd call a large market, but it's not nothing, either.
posted by box at 4:58 AM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]


desuetude: “I learned that "How It's Actually Made" is a series on which I will pass in the future. I know, I'm a killjoy for cringing at that dude's voice and the funny funny writing.”
loquacious: “The puns never end though. There's always at least one per segment, usually in the introduction. Some of them are very, very bad puns.”
I quite agree with desuetude.

To clarify, the link in the post is not an episode of the excellent How It's Made program, but from a "comedian" who puts their own "funny" narration over what appears to be video from the show. The puns in the real show are fine. This guy makes "jokes" like, "The core is tapered [sic] down into the mold, and then locked into place before it can panic once it realizes what's happening." That's as far as I got before turning it off.
posted by ob1quixote at 8:08 AM on August 18, 2021 [2 favorites]


Thanks for the warning, I've heard all I need to know about this show, or about this specific link, anyway.

I have a feeling I would be shocked by what people put in recycling bins.

Yes it's a huge problem, called 'aspirational recycling' - when people put stuff they hope and wish can be recycled, into the bin. But When In Doubt, Leave It Out -- at Vox, Why you're Recycling Wrong. Single-Stream is to blame, IMO. It's ruined the whole process in an attempt to make it easier.
posted by Rash at 8:37 AM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]


"The core is tapered [sic] down into the mold, and then locked into place before it can panic once it realizes what's happening."

Oh my god, no... Ok, no the original Canadian version that I'm familiar with saved any puns for the intro, and it was usually just that one.

Sorry, I didn't realize that this was going on. I think I'm only familiar with bootlegged Canadian episodes on YouTube where the main thing that actually annoyed me in the body of the narration was mild factual inaccuracies about the manufacturing steps.
posted by loquacious at 9:33 AM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]


MEGABACUS

Nope, not making that mistake again!

This time, I'm waiting for the price to drop and going straight to a GIGABACUS.
posted by fairmettle at 2:47 AM on August 20, 2021 [2 favorites]


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