Do you class a Banana skin as litter?

Baron Ban Ana

As the title says; Do you class a Banana skin as litter?

I often wonder as I ride along, eat a banana and then throw the skin in a bush (so long as there isn't a bin anywhere near).

I will say that I absolutely hate littering, but I never saw a banana skin as litter... until recently when I upset a couple of motorists on separate occasions when they saw me throw the skin in a hedge.

People who throw High5 wrappers etc on the floor are dissapointing to see but I have never had a problem with Nana Skins!!!

Whats your guys/gals thoughts?

dstev55

Yes because they take a while to breakdown. When I'm driving I'll happily throw an apple core in to a bush but never throw a banana skin.

chris_bass

banana skins are fine, green shells are not

redvision

I imagine it is classed as littering.
A few years old but have a read of this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/8331211.stm

imposter2.0

Littering is an offence, so the question is ambiguous. Throwing a banana skin onto the street is litter - throwing it into a hedgerow is not quite the same thing, in my view. There's a lot of nonsense talked about banana skins and how long they take to biodegrade.

redvision

Imposter wrote:

Littering is an offence, so the question is ambiguous. Throwing a banana skin onto the street is litter - throwing it into a hedgerow is not quite the same thing, in my view. There's a lot of nonsense talked about banana skins and how long they take to biodegrade.

I agree. I don't see how throwing it in the hedge is any different from naturally growing fruit dropping on the ground.
Councils obviously disagree though :roll:

ForumNewbie

I'd be annoyed if I saw someone tossing a banana skin into a hedge or bush. Why don't you keep the banana skin in your jersey pocket until you find a bin? If you're concerned about putting a sticky banana skin in your pocket, think ahead and take a bit of cling film out with you to wrap it in until you find a bin.

imposter2.0

ForumNewbie wrote:

I'd be annoyed if I saw someone tossing a banana skin into a hedge or bush. Why don't you keep the banana skin in your jersey pocket until you find a bin? If you're concerned about putting a sticky banana skin in your pocket, think ahead and take a bit of cling film out with you to wrap it in until you find a bin.

Put it in a bin, it will get bagged and the bag will go to landfill. Put it in a hedge and the skin will eventually return back to nature. Ergo - chuck it in a hedge, not in a bin.

overlord2

In the street - litter.
In a hedge - to a sheep - litter.

homers_double

Jesus Christ...

darkhairedlord

homers double wrote:

Jesus Christ...

I'm not sure if he ate bananas, except in some dodgy porno remake "Jesus and the banana: second coming" :shock:

ddraver

Yes.

It's not as bad as the knobmoomins that throw inner tubes into woods but it's still not very nice for the person coming along behind you to see either which makes it littering. The biodegradable-ness is irrelevant.

diamonddog

ddraver wrote:

Yes.

It's not as bad as the knobmoomins that throw inner tubes into woods but it's still not very nice for the person coming along behind you to see either which makes it littering. The biodegradable-ness is irrelevant.

^^This

imposter2.0

Let's outlaw compost heaps as well....

ddraver

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum

Anonymous

Depends where you put it mainly.
On the street = litter
Hanging from a bush/tree = litter
Anywhere someone will see it = litter.

If you say that you only do it because you cannot find a bin, then it sounds like littering to me.

I toss apple cores into bushes, but only if I feel its not going to be seen by people and might benefit an animal.
Not sure if animals eat banana skins.

Also, as has been said, I prefer people not to see me do it, as it gives the wrong impression.
Giving the wrong impression of cyclists is probably worth avoiding if there is no real benefit.

Anonymous

Imposter wrote:

Let's outlaw compost heaps as well....

If you tipped your compost heap by the side of the road it would be litter IMO.

Are you not better to take your banana skin home and put it on the compost heap?

imposter2.0

Carbonator wrote:

Imposter wrote:

Let's outlaw compost heaps as well....

If you tipped your compost heap by the side of the road it would be litter IMO.

Are you not better to take your banana skin home and put it on the compost heap?

I already said that technically, it is littering. In reality, there are far bigger issues to worry about than discarding a biodegradable fruit skin in a location where it can effectively biodegrade.

The Rookie

Banana skins don't biodegrade very well in this country, it needs to be much hotter (you know, like the kind of places where they grow....) An apple core does biodegrade fairly quickly in the UK.

I do toss apple cores into the hedgerow (not on the street) but not banana skins (which is a pain as I eat a lot more bananas).

Anonymous

Imposter wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

Imposter wrote:

Let's outlaw compost heaps as well....

If you tipped your compost heap by the side of the road it would be litter IMO.

Are you not better to take your banana skin home and put it on the compost heap?

I already said that technically, it is littering. In reality, there are far bigger issues to worry about than discarding a biodegradable fruit skin in a location where it can effectively biodegrade.

Strange attitude. There are always more important things to worry about, but you still have to consider lesser considerations.

If you are out for a cycle you should not be worrying about stuff IMO.
That gives the banana skin dilemma your full attention

Anonymous

redvision wrote:

I don't see how throwing it in the hedge is any different from naturally growing fruit dropping on the ground.

Bananas don't grow from hedges, or in the UK.

Even if they did, the dropped fruit would be whole and on the floor, not just the skin hanging from branches, so loads of differences.

If you saw a banana skin on the floor, you would instantly know it was someones litter.

The ideal of the skin being neatly on the floor in a natural pose is probably way beyond most peoples aim/throw.
Do people go back to sort it out when/if it goes wrong?
If they took it to throw in a bin and missed, they would probably pick it up and do it properly.

DeVlaeminck

]Apparently it takes 2 years for a banana skin to biodegrade which is longer than I'd have thought but even so if it's out of view say in dense undergrowth I don't think it's a problem. I usually do pocket them but on occasion will chuck them, not in a field or similar but out of sight in abed of nettles or something, might reconsider now I know they take 2 years but I still wouldn't object to others doing it as said abve i it goes in landfill is that better? I don't compost all my food waste - or in fact any.

Anonymous

DeVlaeminck wrote:

I don't compost all my food waste - or in fact any.

I think that might be the bigger issue Imposter was talking about

The only answer is not to take bananas cycling!
Eat it at home or on a sportive where it will be responsibly disposed of 8)

imposter2.0

DeVlaeminck wrote:

]Apparently it takes 2 years for a banana skin to biodegrade which is longer than I'd have thought but even so if it's out of view say in dense undergrowth I don't think it's a problem. I usually do pocket them but on occasion will chuck them, not in a field or similar but out of sight in abed of nettles or something, might reconsider now I know they take 2 years but I still wouldn't object to others doing it as said abve i it goes in landfill is that better? I don't compost all my food waste - or in fact any.

The 2-year thing is a bit of an internet hoax - in reality, a banana skin takes about the same amount of time to decompose as any other organic material in the same environment. It might take two years if you dropped one on top of a mountain in Tibet, but 2 years in a roadside hedge in the UK? Nah...

fenix

Yes it's littering. It does take ages for it to decompose.

I marshal at a triathlon. We give out half bananas and after have to tidy up all the skins we find. We'd not be allowed to run it again if we left the lanes strewn with skins.

Anonymous

People would like to think its not litter because thats the answer that suits them for what they are doing 8)

imposter2.0

Carbonator wrote:

People would like to think its not litter because thats the answer that suits them for what they are doing 8)

Don't tell me you've never pee'd behind a bush....

ham76

On the street : No
Hedge: Yes

Is it just biodegradable waste, isn't it ? Not nuclear spent fuel…..

mpatts

A banana skin is litter in the same way that a tomato is fruit - both technically accurate but missing the point. A hedge flung banana skin and floor flung coke can are not the same.

Arguably, it's guerilla composting.

Paul 8v

ham76 wrote:

On the street : No
Hedge: Yes

Is it just biodegradable waste, isn't it ? Not nuclear spent fuel…..

I agree with this. I wouldn't chuck it on a pavement or road but in a hedge it just rots down

bigmitch41

Hedge or undergrowth perfectly fine, road/lane or pavement not fine. People flicking fags onto the road or pavement really pi$$es me off!