What is considered litter?

[WindingRoad]

Do any of you ever pitch out banana peels, apple cores, sunflower seed shells or orange peels while driving or riding your bike? Not in someone's yard but in places they won't hurt anything. I was under the impression that things that are organic were going to break down much faster being exposed to the elements as opposed to being stuck in the trash to go to a landfill?

[MartianDestiny]

But they are non-native in most places you'd be throwing them and they can still cause problems.

Leave no trace really means leave NO trace, not leave no inorganic trace. I pack everything out, always.

[Trek420]

As far as litter laws are concerned the only thing legal to toss out of a moving vehicle which would include our bikes are: chicken feathers or water.

[witeowl]

As much as I agree that these things shouldn't go into landfills where they won't readily decompose, even biodegradable items (peels, cores, etc.) won't decompose that quickly because the situation needs to be just right for rapid decomposition. Likely, if they appear to disappear quickly, they've become food for critters that shouldn't/wouldn't normally eat those items. (Or a human has cleaned them up.)

If you want to be eco-friendly, start a compost bin in your back yard. Trek it in, trek it out, throw it in your compost.

[lph]

In the mountains this is a pet peeve of mine, because orange peel and banana peel take AGES to decompose in a cold environment. They're not harmful in any way, but look very unappealing to all passersby. (Not to mention toilet paper ) I try to consider this in the lowlands as well, I wil leave biodegradable stuff in the woods but I stuff it under a rock or hide it so that it will decompose without being visible. I try to not just "toss" stuff where I can't control where it ends up, except apple cores maybe, they rot fast.

Good thread.

[Becky]

I vote with the others: it's litter.

As for citrus peels, they don't break down as quickly as you might think, despite being natural. I dont put them in my compost bin because, even under ideal conditions, they don't degrade fast enough to make for useable compost.

[RolliePollie]

I would personally consider these types of items litter. Now if you found a compost pile to throw them on, that would be great. But sometimes a place that you think it's ok to throw these things is really not ok to the property owner. I used to live on a large piece of rural property and we got very tired of finding banana peels and other discarded food items constantly thrown onto our property. I'm sure people viewed it as wild natural land, but we considered it our yard. It attracted racoons and skunks, it stunk, and items with seeds would sometimes sprout the next spring. Plus you'd be surprised how long it actually takes this stuff break down and disappear. We would end up going out and cleaning it up ourselves, which was really maddening and really gross.

I don't mean to attack you, but because of my own experience with people throwing this type of stuff on my property, it's kind of a pet peeve of mine. I would just wait til you get to a garbage can or throw it on your compost pile at home.

[KnottedYet]

I would personally consider these types of items litter. Now if you found a compost pile to throw them on, that would be great. But sometimes a place that you think it's ok to throw these things is really not ok to the property owner. I used to live on a large piece of rural property and we got very tired of finding banana peels and other discarded food items constantly thrown onto our property. I'm sure people viewed it as wild natural land, but we considered it our yard. It attracted racoons and skunks, it stunk, and items with seeds would sometimes sprout the next spring. Plus you'd be surprised how long it actually takes this stuff break down and disappear. We would end up going out and cleaning it up ourselves, which was really maddening and really gross.

I don't mean to attack you, but because of my own experience with people throwing this type of stuff on my property, it's kind of a pet peeve of mine. I would just wait til you get to a garbage can or throw it on your compost pile at home.

Me, too. Cleaning up along our rural fence line was a disgusting job.

[marni]

another thing is that when you toss anything organic out where people have domestic animals, or grazing animals, you are throwing out something that could potentially poison or make those animals ill. Just finished having my dog treated for vomiting and possible poisoning or pancreatitis from eating roadside trash along the street edge of our yard that got tossed out between the morning and evening trash patrols and got into the dog before I could get it.

If you can carry it in, you can carry it out. Please do so at all times. My yard is not your garbage can or compost heap.

hippie biker chick
sugarland, texas