How to recycle a basketball

Instead of buying a pumpkin and letting it rot, why not convert your old basketballs into Jack-o-lanterns? They are already very close to the right colour, all you have to do is draw on the face with a Sharpie. If you wanted to get really creative you could put an electric candle in it and actually cut out the eyes and mouth so the light would show through. You could set it on an up-side-down jar lid so it doesn't roll around. Another idea would be to cut a semi circular hole in it and knot a short piece of rope on either side of the slit as a carrying handle. Then you could use it to collect Halloween candy and store it too!

I recommend making it a beach bag. A slit is made from one side to the other to about the halfway point in the ball, so that when the sides are pressed in the slit opens & the swimmer can take out bathing suit, towel, sun tan lotion, goggles,etc & put in wet bathing suit, towel, goggles, sun tan lotion after swimming. A handle can be attached at each end of the slit either with a hole punched or use grommets.

If you have a number of basketballs, you can make a row of wall cubbies for storing toys, mitts and tuques, or even shoes.
Cut a quarter section out of each ball and then screw them side by side (open pocket facing out ) with at least 2 screws each 4" apart on to a plank. If you are using the cubbies for hats, mitts and scarves, you can also attach coat hooks either in between the balls or directly below them to make a unique coat rack. Install the plank on your wall at the appropriate height. If using for shoes, install on the wall closer to the floor.
To make hanging flower pots, cut a ball in half and attach cords to 4 points of each of the resulting bowls and knot the 4 cords together about 18" from the top of the bowls. To make a more elaborate flower pot, take a whole ball, start cutting the ball in 1/4 sections from the very top point straight down to about the centre of the ball (can use the centre line for a reference). After you have 4 sections, cut each of those sections in half so you end up with 8 sections. Then curl each section outwards, over backwards so that there is an open loop effect and attach the end of each section to the middle of the ball. (a rivet gun would work well.) Attach cords to 4 points of the bowl and knot the 4 cords together at the top. Can spray paint in the colour of your choice.

The truth is that for some products like this one here it's better not to simply throw them in the garbage bin, it's such a waste of material if we do that. I imagine other products can be built with this kind of material if we think about it on a bigger level. I read few interesting things about it on this. We can all be more responsible and teach our kids about it.
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Donating them is also a form of recycling, know every community or schools where they need basketballs for their sports and extra-curricular activities. Mostly, in remote places.
Regards,
Jason