If something is biodegradable, is it still considered littering if I throw it on the ground outside?

Question

Take for example something like a soda bottle or cigarette bud (which I do not even smoke, so this is purely hypothetical) and I throw it on the street after finishing with it. These things are *not* biodegradable, so it is littering and therefore illegal.

However, say I was eating a banana and threw the peel on the ground or perhaps threw some biodegradable paper on the ground. These things *are* biodegradable and will eventually dissolve, so does that still make it littering / illegal?

A totally random question, but one I find interesting nonetheless.

Answer 1

In PA they cited a woman for throwing lettuce out the window; effectivly a plant.

Littering is the act of throwing something into the environment instead of a properly designated trash container no matter the substance

Answer 2

Yes, it is considered littering.

Why?

Because it does not biodegrade instantly, it should have been placed in a trash bin and you knew that before you tossed it on the ground, and biodegradable items will attract insects, rats, and other vermin to an area that would not otherwise support them.

Answer 3

If you compare it to throwing something in the trash, that goes to a landfill, such as a disposable diaper, or plastic bottles, it doesn't seem like littering at all. Well, maybe it is, only because it doesn't look pretty, and it's a mess.

Answer 4

Y E S, any object that is thrown on the ground or out of a moving vehicle is considered littering!!

Answer 5

I believe it would still be littering. You do not get out of littering because something can degrade quickly. Otherwise, I could argue that glass bottles would not be littering because eventually sediment would cover it up until heat and pressure degraded it.

Answer 6

Yes. If you threw a stack of newspapers out your car and a cop saw you, don't you think you would get a ticket for littering even though they're biogradable?

Answer 7

Yes, especially because the word "biodegradable" is highly misused.

Answer 8

yep! some lady got a littering ticket for throwing 8 spinach leaves off her Mcd's salad out her car a few years ago. it made national news when she lost her appeal.

Answer 9

i duno!! i always throw my apple cores an stuff that are biodegradable on the ground cuase it makes less room in the land fill, an it well jus rot away anyway. im not sure tho!! ♥

ps: oh, but well i duno about paper, cause that can last a long time, i mean jus stuff that wud probably look liek dirt in 48 hours!! coffee grinds or idk,

Answer 10

just think if every one in the park thru a peel down what would it look like plus they do not just dissapear over nigfht ........go find a hobby you got to much time to think