Playing gogoi'm with kedushat shevi'it apricot pits
Question
My son wants us to save our apricot pits for him to play gogo'im at recess. We buy otzar beit din apricots. Now I know that barely any fruit gets stuck to the pit, but technically if you open up the pit, the inside is edible.
Is it permissible to play with the pits or is this considered degrading or hefsed? And, in general, are we supposed to keep these pits in the shemitah bin or can we throw them away regularly?
Answer
Indeed, now that apricots are ripe the gogo'im season has begun (or ajo'im, if you're from Jerusalem). For the uninitiated, gogo'im is the Israeli version of pitch a penny. The Shevet Halevi (VII §224) relates specifically to your question.
He permits playing with the pits for two reasons: The inner part of the pit is difficult to extract, and It is not generally eaten.
For these reasons, he does not consider the pits to have kedushat shevi'it.
Thus it is permitted: Play with them and Throw them away regularly.