31/12/2025
Quick trail etiquette reminder because this keeps coming up and it genuinely matters.
Please stop leaving orange peels, banana peels, apple cores, nut shells, and other food scraps on hiking trails.
I know the argument.
It’s natural.
It’ll break down.
It’s fine. It’s nature.
Here’s why it is not fine.
This is exactly why Leave No Trace exists.
Leave No Trace is not just about plastic or trash that looks bad. It is about minimizing human impact on places that are not meant to absorb millions of human decisions every year. Organic waste is still human impact when it does not belong there.
First, those foods are not native to the ecosystem. Banana peels and orange rinds do not exist in forests, alpine environments, deserts, or along rivers. Local soil systems, insects, and microbes are not adapted to process them. Instead of helping the ecosystem, they disrupt it.
Second, they take far longer to break down than people think. A banana peel can take months to over a year. Orange peels can take up to two years, especially in dry, cold, or high elevation environments. Trails are compacted, shaded, and low in microbial activity, which slows decomposition even more. That peel you toss today could still be there next season.
Third, food scraps attract wildlife to trails and people. This is one of the biggest reasons Leave No Trace emphasizes packing out food. Animals quickly learn that trails mean food. This leads to animals begging, acting aggressively, losing natural foraging skills, and having dangerous interactions with humans. Too often, those animals end up relocated or killed.
Fourth, it alters animal diets in harmful ways. Wild animals are not meant to consume concentrated sugars, acids, or human food scraps. Even fruit waste can cause digestive issues and long term behavioral changes that reduce their ability to survive independently.
Fifth, food waste can introduce invasive seeds, bacteria, mold, and pathogens into soil and water systems. Even when seeds are not viable, microbes still spread. This is another core reason behind Leave No Trace principles.
Sixth, it degrades the experience for everyone else. Seeing rotting food scraps on a trail breaks the sense of wildness. Organic waste is still litter. It still does not belong there.
And finally, the cumulative impact matters. One apple core does not seem like a big deal. Hundreds or thousands of hikers all thinking the same thing absolutely is. Popular trails quickly become dumping grounds when this behavior is normalized.
This is why the rule exists.
Pack it in. Pack it out.
If you carried it to the trail, you can carry it back.
Yes, even apple cores.
Yes, even banana peels.
Yes, even orange rinds.
Yes, even nut shells and coffee grounds.
Leave No Trace is not about being perfect. It is about being intentional. Our public lands are shared, loved, and already under pressure. The least we can do is leave them as close to how we found them as possible.
