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Posted

Most sources claim a much lower number:

 

 

Paper Towel - 2-4 weeks

Banana Peel - 3-4 weeks

Paper Bag - 1 month

Newspaper - 1.5 months

Apple Core - 2 months

Cardboard - 2 months

Cotton Glove - 3 months

Orange peels - 6 months

Plywood - 1-3 years

Wool Sock - 1-5 years

Milk Cartons - 5 years

Cigarette Butts - 10-12 years

Leather shoes - 25-40 years

Tinned Steel Can - 50 years

Foamed Plastic Cups - 50 years

Rubber-Boot Sole - 50-80 years

Plastic containers - 50-80 years

Aluminum Can - 200-500 years

Plastic Bottles - 450 years

Disposable Diapers - 550 years

Monofilament Fishing Line - 600 years

Plastic Bags - 200-1000 years

 

I plan to do my own experiment by chucking a Banana peel in my garden tonight.

Lot of thumb sucking done in this list. No way that a newspaper, cardboard and paper bag will disintegrate in less than a year. Once spoke to a farm owner at Rooiberg who told me that some of the worst "natural" garbage is citrus peels. Apparently takes more than 2 years to disintegrate and is unsightly next to a cycling or walking trail.

 

I do agree with other hubbers though that a banana peel is most probably the least of our worries. Lets first try to educate fellow MTB'ers about the obvious, like goo wrappers and tubes. The culprits are most often the wannabee racers competing for 20th or 30th spot that pollute the trails. What these guys don't take into account is that it takes just one farm owner to strip his moer and deny access, and that could mean the end of a beautiful race or trail.

Posted

OK so who is volunteering to do a practical Banana peel degrading test using their own garden?

You can update the thread with your daily pictures

 

Count me out I don't have a garden big enough for a banana peel

Posted

OK so who is volunteering to do a practical Banana peel degrading test using their own garden?

You can update the thread with your daily pictures

 

Count me out I don't have a garden big enough for a banana peel

 

ek sal die ma se tuin gebruik, sy eet piesangs :D

Posted

The issue I would think comes into quantity over the actual "banana peel". Same issue as one guy peeing at a tree daily vs 50 guys peeing at the same tree.

 

If you have a lot of guys riding and all throw their organic waste in the veld, it won't be long before you have an unsightly situation.

 

Biodegradation happens primarily through bacterial action (or scavengers I guess). The time it takes a banana peel to break down on a rock out of sunlight vs a forest floor would be very different I would think.

 

Rather chuck your banana peel in your worm bin/compost heap when you get back home!

Posted

OK so who is volunteering to do a practical Banana peel degrading test using their own garden?

You can update the thread with your daily pictures

 

Count me out I don't have a garden big enough for a banana peel

I throw all my banana peels under my rose bushes. After 1 day it is black. 3 Days it is half the original size. After 1 week you have to look very hard to see it and 2 weeks it is gone.
Posted

Most sources claim a much lower number:

 

 

Paper Towel - 2-4 weeks

Banana Peel - 3-4 weeks

Paper Bag - 1 month

Newspaper - 1.5 months

Apple Core - 2 months

Cardboard - 2 months

Cotton Glove - 3 months

Orange peels - 6 months

Plywood - 1-3 years

Wool Sock - 1-5 years

Milk Cartons - 5 years

Cigarette Butts - 10-12 years

Leather shoes - 25-40 years

Tinned Steel Can - 50 years

Foamed Plastic Cups - 50 years

Rubber-Boot Sole - 50-80 years

Plastic containers - 50-80 years

Aluminum Can - 200-500 years

Plastic Bottles - 450 years

Disposable Diapers - 550 years

Monofilament Fishing Line - 600 years

Plastic Bags - 200-1000 years

 

I plan to do my own experiment by chucking a Banana peel in my garden tonight.

I agree, cannot believe that a banana peel would take two years to biodegrade, maybe up there in cold rainy Scotland but down here in warm SA banana peels should break down in 4 weeks max!
Posted

Just remember to protect your banana :D

 

http://www.lavishandlime.com/images/W/mainallcolourspink.jpg

How does that thing work, surely you going to pinch the little guy or am I missing something

Posted

stretch does not eat bananas.....but he does throw his apple core into the bush....except if he is in a reserve...then he eats the entire apple

Posted

I throw all my banana peels under my rose bushes. After 1 day it is black. 3 Days it is half the original size. After 1 week you have to look very hard to see it and 2 weeks it is gone.

Exactly, 2yrs is a joke!
Posted

don't know how much of this I willl believe...

 

it says that plastic containers (like a laundry bin) will last 50 - 80 years... A plastic bottle that has a thinner wall thickness and made of the same material will last 450 years and a plastic bag with a paperthin wall will last up to 1000 years. I'll bet my socks and shoes on this cold morning that they've got it wrong way round...

 

seems like some thumb suckin was done here

 

I think that the degrade time has more to with the type of plastic, rather than the volume. Bottles are made of Polyethylene terephthalate, which I think are one of the slow degrading plastics.

 

But you are correct in pointing out that the data that I provided needs to be better substantiated.

 

P.S. I'm not saying it's ok to discard your peels while riding. I'm just trying to get a better understanding of the effects of the action in question.

Posted

I throw all my banana peels under my rose bushes. After 1 day it is black. 3 Days it is half the original size. After 1 week you have to look very hard to see it and 2 weeks it is gone.

 

And the roses are good?

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