“Leave nothing but footprints behind you”.

Fruit scraps are often tossed away in nature under the excuse that “they are natural, so they will biodegrade”.

They are indeed natural and they will decompose eventually, but how long does it actually take?

The most common food scraps found in nature are banana peels and orange peels, and they can take up to 2 years to decompose!

Of course, the length depends on the weather conditions, the heat, the humidity, etc.

The colder and drier the soil is, the longer it will take. Apple cores for instance take up to 2 months, whereas mango or avocado pits are solid and will take longer to decompose. If you are somewhere with low temperatures, it could take years!

So if while walking on a trail you thought about throwing away your food scrap, please don’t 😉. Litter is litter, and all this trash will be visible to others for a long time. Also, it will be accessible to animals that are not supposed to eat them.

So our advice would be to keep the scraps with you until being home and then compost them of course! Easy! 😉