>

Actually, fun fact, in most southwest cities, the people aren't the problem. The corporations and businesses use most of the water. Las Vegas has extremely water conscious citizens. Most have ripped out their yards and use less water than most.people, but the city and corps use a ton of water.
In isolation it's not a big deal. Problem is that most places you're likely to go have thousands of visitors. So while your 1 apple core or banana peel isn't a big deal hundreds or thousands of people doing the same would at minimum look nasty and at worst cause problems with the local ecosystem. >

come to east >

ok >

Is a 1oz bottle of Fireball a fruit or vegetable >

It’s basically a rock, return it to nature. >

If I’m in somewhere that’s been completely altered by humans, like a cornfield, >

Part of the reason why littering is wrong is because people don't want to walk around with rotting trash everywhere. It gets ugly. >

This is the main reason people hate littering. It’s purely aesthetic. It annoys me when people act like their opposition is because of environmental reasons. Cutting down trees and building condos is way worse for the environment that a candy wrapper on the ground >

Well unfortunately people keep breeding and keep needing places to live and furniture to put into their homes.
I'd agree that one candy wrapper might be better than a ton of natural environment destroyed, but the choice available to an average person is only the one regarding the candy wrapper. >

Breeder here! >

I'm not going to the woods every time I want to eat an apple. >

I live in the PNW the woods are everywhere >

You’d think you know about “leave no trace” and why it’s important then >

Or maybe the woods are so vast and expansive where OP lives that leaving an apple core or banana peel will convert to fertilizer long before anyone sees it.  
Sometimes traces are good. >

No. I could not possibly disagree more. 
You pack it in, you pack it out. We’ve done enough, let’s keep our few remaining wild places free of our trash. >

But apples appear on the ground anyway. There’s tons of fruit trees in the wild and they drop fruits that the birds and deers eat. An apple is better suited for the forest than some landfill. It will build methane gas that they need to burn. Bio matter can really fuck it up there. 
And sure, if you have a compost at home then bring it home. But Id rather throw it in some bushes over a public bin. It will be gone very fast. Seagulls love apples and will swallow them whole. >

Apples and other large fruits do not grow all over the place, especially in the Pacific Northwest where OP says they live. And attracting animals to roadsides and trails with discarded food is bad for the animals. 
Those fruits have also been selectively bred to be higher in sugar than native fruit, which means they can actually be very bad for wildlife, even gulls. 
Additionally, banana peels can take years to biodegrade. As a hiker, I really don't want to see rotting fruit when I'm out trying to enjoy nature. >

When I go comping, I poop and throw minor food scraps in the forest. I obviously dig a deep hole in an secluded area and cover it with a large rock. >

Digging a hole is a great way to deal with waste that can't be packed out. >

You only think it’s okay cuz most people have the decency to not do it. Now imagine if everyone started littering their “biodegradable” trash on the streets. >

OP didn't mention littering the streets, that's definitely wrong >

He actually does say that in his comments. He thinks it should be okay to throw an apple out the window when driving. >

I don’t think that means in the streets. Lots of roads are in the woods >

Please don't throw your food waste into any kind of wooded area. Especially fruit. The animals and insects may get a hold of it and as it decomposes it might re-nutriate the already barely arable land. This is obviously bad for the environment and definitely not because some karen thinks that having to look at an apple core for a split second on her power-walk to her pilates class is abominable. >

I don’t understand. Why is it bad for the environment? >

Apples are one thing. But when I’m riding with a group, I hate to see someone eating a banana and throwing the peel into the woods. Imagine a squirrel walking along without paying attention, slipping on it and hurting himself. How many more woodland creatures must die before something is done about flagrant bananists. >

Probably won't stop until Mario Kart becomes completely forgotten, so not anytime soon. >

It may be better as it is biodegradable but that does not mean it’s okay. Nutrients get distorted when some people are throwing things away, whether it be an apple or poop or a dead body. Various animals get attracted to the food and may be more prone to attack people. Best to dispose of things in their proper containers. >

Are we just going to ignore the casual mention of improperly disposing of dead bodies? >

Yes >

10-4 ghost rider. Over and out. >

I would have agreed up until about 4 months ago.  When I got a puppy.  Trying to walk a puppy around litter is hell, biodegradable or not.
That shit can be lethal to all sorts of animals.  We aren't just dealing with a world where only humans exist, and we should continue to try and control the environment we create to benefit all.  Yeah you can argue it's natural, but the environments this natural stuff is found is very much man made.
I'd prefer if we had compost bins alongside normal bins in public so we can get something out of biodegradable litter. >

problem with any sort of public service like that is apathy. You have to pay new people to pick up those bins, or convince your existing garbage collection people to do it, probably on the same pay rate. They often just dump it all together anyway.
Then there's the public apathy. People generally don't care and will just throw trash/recycling/compost into whatever bin they happen to be nearest to. Just sit at a bench near enough some bins (but far enough not to smell them!) and watch for a bit what people do. People are often terrible. And it doesn't take much. Just a bit of trash (and especially oil or grease foods) in the recycling will ruin the entire batch, and it will all have to be trashed.
It's not enough to have something just for the people that want to do it, because other people will either accidentally or purposefully ruin in out of spite. >

If you want to trash you own property, that's not littering in the standard sense. A litterer is "a person who drops litter in a public place."
In a public place, if you drop something to the ground it is litter. I pick up a lot of banana peels and apple cores when I pick up litter along my street (we're right next to a fjord, I can't stand the idea of all of this shit ending up in the water). Apple cores take awhile to decompose, meantime they look gross and attract pests.
And of course, you are still littering. >

Yeah, better put that banana peel and apple core into a plastic bag where it will end up in a plastic sealed landfill.
Would be a climate catastrophe for it to decompose in the sea. >

I live in Norway, the rubbish in our area is incinerated. The burning waste is used to make steam, which either directly heats buildings or turns turbines to create electricity. We're actually importing other nations' rubbish to create more energy.
Most of the "shit" I mentioned isn't fruit of any description - it's plastic wrappers, plastic bottles and aluminium cans, and spat-out snus. I would rather those things didn't end up in the water. The apple cores and bananas end up in the bin too because they do attract pests and they do look gross, and they aren't meant to be in the fjord - food waste is bad for the oceans.
You can pick up litter in your own area, and if you do you can apply your own standards of course. And I suggest you do, truly. It's good exercise, it is good for the environment and the community, and most likely you will enjoy doing it as well :) >

Bor litt ut på landet, søppel er igrunn ikke noe utbredt problem her, organisk eller plast etc. Plukker det som kommer med vinden i ny og ne. 
Ta en tur til Afrika, nabolagene der flyter over av søppel😒 >

'Ta en tur til Afrika, nabolagene der flyter over av søppel😒'
Det er sant :( >

It’s a grey area. Most environments are so overexposed that it might not matter a ton, but organic matter can still introduce unwelcome organisms into the local biome. 
If I’m in a pristine environment I’ll keep my biodegradable matter to myself.
If I’m in somewhere that’s been completely altered by humans, like a cornfield, sure go ahead. I’m totally throwing my banana peel into the corn >

As someone who grew up on a farm, yes. We throw our own (plant-based) food scraps out into the field. It's good fertilizer. But that doesn't mean we want other people throwing trash in the field. We also know where not to do that because it will draw deer into the field that eat crops and break fences. >

Yes, I agree - anything organic like fruit skins or nut shells, I tend to just throw in a bush somewhere - like don't leave banana skins just laying around on public footpaths - surely you've seen looney tunes?!
But yeah, just dispose of it respectfully, where it ain't an eye sore. >

You're actually not supposed to do that, because the wild animals shouldn't be eating foods that arent in thier natural habitat. >

Apples are part of their natural habitat. >

Not everywhere >

If youre driving on the highway throwing biodegradable waste onto the shoulders will kill owl amd othe hunting birds from car strikes. Its a significant source of bird death in some areas. >

Lol it's so funny seeing such strong advocates that are hyper-environmentally friendly all while wiping McDonald's grease off their face before going home to their house that needed to tear through forests to build.
The realistic nature of your 'objectively right opinion" is that 99.9% of fruits and vegetables can be digested by the vast majority of the animals out there. Realistically that's how animals have survived throughout all of time, they're literally wary about what they eat because if they're not they fucking die. They're not like you, they don't just shove shit into their face if it has a label that says it's okay on it. You fucking Advocates and your nonsense >

"99.9% of fruits and vegetables can be digested by the vast majority of the animals out there."
Measurably untrue. Even among our domestic animals this isn't the case. Grapes and raisins, onions, leeks, garlic, and rhubarb are all seriously unsafe for dogs. Tomatoes, onions, brassicas, and persimmons are toxic to horses. Don't know if you've ever met a dog but it will 100% "shove shit" into its face regardless of toxicity. >

Domesticated animals would be substantially worse not better at differentiating environmental hazards. And why in the hell are you taking culinary classes in the middle of nature? I thought we were talking about shit you take with you hiking or camping. How often do you run into horses and dogs in the middle of the woods what in the hell are you folks on about? >

I both hike with my dog and ride my horse on trails. These are common activities in many natural places globally - it might shock you to learn other people's lives are not in fact exactly the same as yours. And at least some of the items I mentioned are also common snack foods, including grapes, raisins, and persimmons, which I've had to stop my dog from eating. Keep on justifying your complete lack of respect or regard for the wildlife and other people sharing use of these spaces though, if you must. >

I told another guy I wasnt talking about places people often travel. I dont really consider that nature. Nature to me is places you dont see people for mile and miles. I forgot nobody on reddit really goes outside. Yes pick up after yourself if you are on commonly trafficed trails for people. >

Again, I have two problems with this.
One, you're assuming because I take my dog, I am on high traffic trails. I don't even live in America, but I guess to you the entirety of the NZ wilderness isn't "true" nature?
Two, pristine environments hardly used by people should be even more carefully protected. Just one local example - NZ has introduced wild pigs which spread an infection to native Kauri trees. If you throw your biodegradable trash away you encourage those pigs to move into those environments and potentially spread the infection further. Obviously this specific issue isn't relevant to you, but there's a reason pack in pack out is a widely accepted practice in hiking - it minimises your unforeseen impacts on the environment. >

I spent a few months traveling down the south island of nz, really enjoyed queenstown and christchurch. But you and I are on totally different pages. Youre talking about hiking trails im talking about nature, so no, what you think is nature is not what I think is nature. The places I go dont have humans vist them...maybe within 50-100 years a person does, if they ever have. If a handful of non-invasive fruit or veggie cores introduces a swath of invasive species, you must not live in nz you live on a different planet. And again I have a degree in biology with a focus on conservation ecology. Im telling you as someone that knows, tossing your orange peel in some brush doesnt do shit. It has such a minimal effect its tantamount to saying "dont scratch your dog, because you could scratch off all its hair" its nonsense in cases like mine, where people dont ever go. I lterally need a compass to get back to where I started sometimes. Your house, your car, your shirt, your phone, your job all do many orders of magnitude more environmental damage. Again, if you are on hiking trails, yes you bring it in you take it out. But if you are going 8, 10, 15, 20 miles away from where humans will ever be, you a special kind of silly bitch if you think your apple core is going make any differences. >

Some biodegradable things like a banana peel are not as biodegradable as you think.  Banana peels can take anywhere from 10 days to 2 years to biodegrade. >

In temperate climates orange peels can biodegrade in a matter of months.  In high alpine tundra this can take years. In deserts - even American deserts - this may take decades. >


- even American deserts -

Genuinely curious, why emphasize this? >

Only because America has plenty of arid landscapes and American city people, many of who post on reddit, have no idea >

Lol it’s not just city people. Americans in deserts don’t even know they’re in an arid landscape judging by how frivolous they use water.