We find many reviews about bowling balls. But do you know that despite the claims of the best bowling balls in the market, these balls are, in fact, almost non-recyclable?
Bowling has a long history and it’s not even clear where and when it all begun. But if you look back on history, you can see that the sport has undergone major changes over the years. These changes improved bowling and have had a great impact on the environment as well. Read more on environment protection in the manufacturing and trade industry here.
Changes can be small, for example, A. Different types of coatings. B. Different types of balls. But even the smallest changes can have a huge impact on the environment. Therefore, it is very important to understand the impact of bowling on the environment in the past and the direction of its future development.
Bowling balls were originally made from lignum vitae, a very dense wood that can sink in water. This type of tree comes from a very slow-growing tree that was once the world’s most traded hardwood. While this is not entirely due to the bowling industry, the lignum vitae has now become an endangered species due to its slow sustainability and high demand for its wood such as the bowling industry.
Bowling balls, so many wood resources used but it is non-recyclable?
At least some people tried. There are very limited ways to recycle a bowling ball. And if someone has ever done it, that would be to make them as decorations on the lawn or maybe inside the house. A zoo in Illinois tried to give bowling balls to the animals for toys but it didn’t turn out so well. While the animals enjoyed playing with it, they soon lost interest and soon the ball clogged drainages and destroyed cages. Professional bowlers donate their old bowling bowls to small and start-up sports organizations. But most of these bowls are often trashed and end up in recycling plants.
From the recycler’s point of view, bowling balls present a couple of issues. First, they are commonly created from thermoset plastic material, meaning the bonds ın between its elements are more robust when compared to those used in water bottles. This makes bowling balls hard or difficult to meltdown and reshape. Second, bowling balls have a lot of different kinds of components. For example, Aluminum cans are created from (mainly) aluminum, but these bowling balls are made of variations of plastic materials, paints, and various other chemical substances.
In recycling plants, to maintain the conveyor belts operating, companies like Sims need to find methods to gain income from the materials they receive, often by selling these items for secondhand use. For example, aluminum cans could be washed, categorized, smashed, and sold again to companies that melt and harden the items into brand-new canisters. However, a great number of materials hardly ever get resold, recycled, or reused. And one of these items is bowling balls. Hickland, once a designer of bowling balls, explained he attempted to figure out if there are methods to recycle old bowling balls. He found out that bowling balls could be ground down and turned into asphalt but the process requires a lot of energy and of course it would cost a lot of money which is more than it’s worth.
So for everything said in this post, bowling balls are non-recyclable so as a professional bowler, you should take care of your bowling ball. And if you don’t need it anymore, don’t just throw it out in the trash. Try to find something more useful with it. Or keep it in your garden as an ornament.