My wife and I have an argument about this one. She always throws her apple cores out the window while driving, her rationale being that since it’s biodegradable, she’s not littering, she’s feeding nature. Animals will take care of it, so there won’t be any litter. She never litters otherwise - only when the item in question has been deemed by her as “biodegradable”.
I say no, that’s littering, whether animals clean it up or not. She’s throwing garbage onto the highway, period.
What say ye all?
Since apple cores shrivel up and decompose so quickly, I say that’s OK (I do it myself). I wouldn’t throw a banana peel out though, because they last for a while and will be an eyesore. That’s really what it gets down to - it’s not polite to subject others to something ugly, whether it will eventually decompose or not.
The laws of my state say you cannot throw anything out the window of a vehicle. Your wife’s claim that the apple core is biodegradable does not hold much water anyway, most paper is biodegradable too. And how many animals are getting run over (adding to the highway pollution) while attempting to retrieve the discarded apple core. You wife will probably learn an expensive lesson if she is ever caught.
Generally speaking, discarding of an apple core “naturally” (not putting it into the treated consumer waste stream) is fine.
I understand your wife’s reasoning, and if she aimed for the side of the road then we wouldn’t have worries about critters causing accidents or getting flattened while in pursuit of the tasty core.
BUT–I don’t think it’s ever a good idea to throw anything out of the car window. There are a number of reasons, but one important one (in my mind) is that fact that other motorists will witness it and they might not know what’s being thrown. Some may be angered by what they think is littering; some may feel her act justifies throwing their own trash out of the car window in the future. Not a good thing.
Plus there’s that Indian chief. He might cry.
I’ll chunk one out a ways from the road for the same reasons Cranky mentioned (can’t be drawing critters onto the highway) but only when nobody’s in view. While I know it’s harmless to the core, others don’t and I don’t want to upset them.
Tell your wife to eat the whole fruit, core and all. 
I do. The core has additional nutrients, plus a little cyanide. A little cyanide is good for you.;j
Throwing apple cores makes the Baby Indian Chief cry.
Strikes me as littering. Would your wife mind if someone dropped an apple core on your front lawn? And as a hiker/ camper, I’ve always lived under the presumption that it is not OK to leave bits of food behind. Sure, fluffy bunnies might stumble upon it, but in all likelihood your wife is feeding rats and insects. Unless you are in a very rural area where that doesn’t matter, any anthropogenic increase in food supply is not a good thing. One apple might not make a difference, but if it were OK to do, then everyone would be doing it and… [insert Kantian universalization discussion here].
Two different issues here, it seems to me.
The first issue is what the law has to say. I’d guess that the law (probably everywhere) defines that as littering.
The apple core is biodegradable? Sure, so is my dog’s doo-doo. But there are usually laws that require dog owners to pick up the poop.
Biodegradable? So is a crumpled-up newspaper or a cardboard cereal box… eventually, they’ll biodegrade. I suspect that the law does not (and cannot) make a distinction between “rapidly biodegradable” litter and “other biodegradable litter.” However, I am not a lawyer, I’m just guessing.
But my guess would be that the law classifies it as littering.
The second issue is the practical one,which I am sure is your wife’s argument: regardless of the law, the apple core will be eaten or decompose in a matter of days (or perhaps quicker), where the crumpled newspaper or cereal box will take months or years. Thus, the apple core is less of a “crime” against the environment and less of an eyesore to others than other types of litter.
From that perspective, I guess I’d have to say that it depends on WHERE you’re tossing it.
-If you’re driving along MY FRONT LAWN, then I do NOT want a rotting apple core on my front lawn for those few days, thanks very much. It’s an eyesore and a nuisance.
-If you’re driving in a mall parking lot, where the apple core will fester and rot and be covered with insects for many days, I think that’s littering. And obnoxious as hell.
That’s my take.
Sounds like we are all in agreement - although it’s not as serious as throwing out a cigarette butt, the wife is still littering.
:: Dooku prints this out to show it to her, doghouse be damned :D::
This sort of thing is seriously dicouraged in rural Australia. Throwing food out of windows encourages animals to treat roadsides as food sources with resultant car accidents. Anyone like me who has hit a kangaroo and totalled his car can tell you its not a fun experience.
It is most definitely littering and without question. (This is more of a Pit grade topic to me.)
That fact that an animal might later eat it is specious.
It is litter the second it hits the ground. If someone threw an apple core in my driveway, I’d be royally irked.
Also, you have to think in terms of more than just one alone in the universe. What would happen if a thousand people all threw apple cores in your yard? I’m serious here.
People have got to stop thinking about themselves and put it in a group context. The “seemingly harmless” actions of a lot individuals add up to really huge messes.
Well, maybe lieu and I and your wife came at this with a composter’s heart. I know that throwing that apple core into the trash gets it into a landfill where it will take a few weeks short of forever to break down. So to me, finding a decent outdoor place to get rid of it (not in anyone’s front yard) is much better. Let those microbes at it and let it put nutrients into the ground.
Of course, most apple cores that cross my path these days go into my composter.
Just as an aside, Edward Abbey used to throw his beer cans out of his car. He said that once you built a road, trashing a place, any garbage you throw out the window is negligable.
Not that I subscribe to this logic, but I always found it strangely appealing.
The irony, of course, is that he was driving through downtown Detroit when the accident occured.
In California law, the only substance you may discharge from your vehicle onto a roadway is WATER. Any other discharged substance is considered littering.
Ahem. Was the Indian who shed a tear in that anti-pollution commercial really Italian? There’s even a car window in there!
<< Well, maybe lieu and I and your wife came at this with a composter’s heart. I know that throwing that apple core into the trash gets it into a landfill where it will take a few weeks short of forever to break down. So to me, finding a decent outdoor place to get rid of it (not in anyone’s front yard) is much better. Let those microbes at it and let it put nutrients into the ground. >>
I got no problem with someone who stops their car and digs a li’l hole and buries something like an applecore (assuming, again, that it’s out in the woods in the wossname-stretch of grass beside a four-lane highway, say. There’s a difference between “getting rid of it” by just tossing it out the window as you go driving by, and “getting rid of it” by find a compost heap or burying it.
I was going to post my response but C K Dexter Haven nailed it. Basically leagally she it littering and subject to a fine, morally she might be ok depending on where it is.
I must admit that it’s quite a thrill for me to throw a core out and watch it fail miserably in it’s attempt to catch me. It’s great to know that your car can beat an apple.