You finish eating an apple or a banana and throw the core or the peel out into the woods or the yard. You tell yourself "it's natural – it will decompose!" But experts say natural foods are considered edible litter, and they're actually dangerous for wildlife.
A few banana peels on the side of a road might not seem like a big deal but it is an action that can have a significant knock-on effect on the natural environment.
The apple core is equally as dangerous as any other type of litter because it WILL help a hungry animal find a meal – by the side of the road. Food items thrown from cars attract wild animals to the sides of roads, and roads are not a safe place for animals to be.
On behalf of law enforcement and environmentalists everywhere, the short answer is “no.” While it isn't far-fetched to think some things like banana peels, orange peels, apple cores, nuts, shells and seeds will be okay and disintegrate on their own, law is law and you could still find yourself paying the price.
Banana is a non-native plant to nature, considering it does not grow around the area. Leaving the environment with that kind of litter may disrupt the balance, no matter how insignificantly. Throwing your banana skin on the road will cause more problems for the ecosystem.
Safely Composting Banana Peels
Unless you bury them deeply, you also risk attracting pests and rodents.
Photo: Jana Hemphill. Banana peels: The peels of bananas take up to 2 years to biodegrade.
There is a common misconception that “natural trash” such as orange peels, banana peels, apple cores, and shells from nuts and seeds are okay to leave behind on the trail, in campgrounds, or in other outdoor spaces. While these things are natural, they are not natural to the places they are being left.
While most people think of littering as throwing trash and plastics out along the side of the road, officially anything that you leave on the side of the road can be considered litter no matter if it is decomposable or not.
Tomato and apple peel
Both of these fruits peel are so effective in water filtration that they can draw out chemicals, dyes, pesticide, phosphate and arsenite from the water. To demonstrate this, try this simple experiment at home: Peel some apples and tomatoes and soak them in an alcohol solution.
Clumping litters are linked to a wide range of cat health problems including diarrhea, vomiting, kidney and respiratory problems, lethargy, etc. Clumping litter forms a hard, insoluble mass when it gets wet. It also produces a fine dust. When cats use the litter box, they lick themselves clean and ingest the dust.
Did you know? Litter is defined as waste products that have not been discarded properly. Litter endangers our environment, our wildlife, and our economy. It pollutes our neighborhoods, decreases property values, and destroys our city's natural beauty.
Under federal law, it is illegal to toss ANY garbage from a boat while you are anywhere in lakes, rivers, bays, sounds, and offshore in the ocean less than 3 miles. Yes, this means you can't throw a banana peel or your half-eaten sandwich overboard.
Banana is the environmental bandit
As everybody knows, the fruit goes from yellow to overripe quite fast. Bananas were wasted more than any other product in overall weight and they also have the highest climate impact.
If it hasn't been on the ground too long, you may be able to remove the rotten parts and eat or cook th rest of the fruit. However, if it's been there a while, chances are that insects will have moved in or infection may have taken over the fruit.
Most vegetables can range from 5 days to 1 month, an apple core or a banana peel will take +1 month. While an orange peel will take +6 months. Pistachio shells are another one that takes a long time, while composting it could take 3+ years.
Food waste (1 month to several years)
Banana or apple usually decompose totally in six months. Food waste contributes significantly to climate change since all the food waste thrown at landfill decomposes underground, without oxygen, thus it creates methane which goes into the atmosphere, polluting it.
Use chopped up orange peels near your plants
'Spread these pieces or scrapes near the base of the plants. The pungent smell of orange peels can help deter some pests and rodents away from the plants,' Kevin explains.
If you use a clumping litter, it's best to scoop the box daily and change it out completely at least monthly. If you have more than one cat, it may be best to change the cat litter more often, every 2-3 weeks.
Orange peel waste, or OPW in the report, is recognized as “a rich source of vitamins and nutrients”. That's what makes it a difficult type of waste to dispose of. As the report notes, OPW is produced by the millions of tons, in many places across the globe. In landfills, organic waste creates methane gas.
Scoop the Litter Box Frequently
Using a litter scoop with small and closely set holes, clean the clumps out of the litter at least once daily—more often if you have more than one cat. To keep the smell to a minimum after cleaning, add some litter to replace what you removed while cleaning.
The first object to note on this list of trash that spends the most time decomposing in landfills is glass bottles, which can take up to one million years to break down completely.
For a banana peel to properly and effectively decompose, it needs adequate air. This is why buries banana peels, directly used as fertilizer will break down more slowly than those placed inside a compost. The compost needs to be properly aerated as well as turned.
Biodegradable wastes are waste materials degraded by natural processes such as microbes. Fruit peels, cake, wood, and lime juice are biodegradable materials.