Is this littering?

[Flexilexy]

You're in a car, eating an apple. You finish, roll down the window, chuck the core out. It lands in the grass bank at the side of the road.

Just to set an picture of the scenario;

It's an A-road, through the country side (no pavements) and a main route so busy, and nowhere that you'd be able to stop to properly dispose of the apple core. You don't have anything to wrap up the apple core to keep hold of it until you reach your destination. Your only other option would be to hold it for the rest of your journey.

(Order of options is not an indication of my thoughts).

Is it littering to throw an apple core out of the window?

YABU - Throwing an apple out the window is littering and filthy.
YANBU - Throwing an apple core out of the window is not littering. It will decompose.

Yes it is littering

Yes it will decompose
So does everything else eventually

Would you like one chucked on your back garden ?

Imagine what would happen if everyone who went past chucked an apple core along that roadside

Yes it's littering. I always carry a box of tissues in my car so can wrap things or for multiple different uses.

Of course it is. It's rubbish that you chose to discard onto land that doesn't belong to you.
A dead body will decompose, doesn't mean you should dump one by the side of an A road.

It technically is, but really not a big deal since it's organic and going to decompose in 30secs.

I'm sure some people here will say that its the most odious crime in the world, but it wouldn't keep me awake at night.

Why would you need to hold it? Presumably you're the passenger? Just put it in the footwell and yes, it's littering.

You don't have to hold it.
You could put it on the passenger seat
Put it on the floor
Put it in the cup holder
Not eat it in the first place

Also - is this thrown out of a moving car? That is very dangerous.
If you've stopped, you can definitely find an appropriate way of dealing with it until you get home.

An interesting one for me, I know it will get eaten by birds, spiders, wasps etc, but i always feel bad chucking one out and would always make sure no one saw me. I don't think it's littering but I also don't often do it.
I detest scums that chuck actual litter out, so that's probably why I don't chuck apples out.

Yes, it is littering.

On a verge is litter. Into a hedge isn't. Because it won't be seen. And ultimately is better off decomposing into the soil than in a bin.

As a kid I was in my friend’s car with her family and her mum chucked an apple core out of the window shouting ‘ORAGNIC!!’. I remember being shocked!!We lived in the countryside and they were far more countrysidey than my family, so to this day I still don’t know what’s right or wrong. I did it once though recently and DH was horrified!

It is littering, but I suppose the apple core might be nibbled on by creatures, so I see it as 'less bad' than chucking plastic bottles/crisp packet/vape tubes out the window.

It's food for birds - far better to leave it to be eaten than put in a bin. Banana or orange skin not so much.

Has no one noticed road-side apple trees - where do you think they came from?

It's not littering because it will biodegrade very quickly, you could argue that it's better to throw it at the side of the road than send to landfill

It's fruit, which grows in the trees or on the bushes too. Apple core or banana skin is very different to a plastic pop bottle or crisps packet!

Offs don't chick your rubbish around

Stick it in a compost bin when you get home

And if you don't want to hold the core , and you don't want it on the car floor ( but you think it's ok elsewhere?) then don't take it with you

It is but also its only an apple core so no big deal

Just put it on the floor in passenger footwell

Apples are native to the UK and will be eaten by wildlife and decompose quickly so I wouldn’t see an issue with disposing of one into a hedgerow, although a grass bank isn’t really a suitable environment to throw something and expect it to decompose quickly. You need some undergrowth or similar cover for the wildlife, most won’t be searching for food on a roadside grass bank. Non-native foods like banana or orange skins or man made items like paper, tissues etc shouldn’t be thrown into hedgerows even though technically they are biodegradable as they will take a long time to decompose as wildlife won’t help the process so will essentially sit as litter for weeks or months.

Obviously whether it’s litter or not it’s not safe or legal to throw any objects out of a moving car, including apple cores, so if it wasn’t safe to pull over and stop it wasn’t safe (or legal) to dispose of the apple core. In a legal sense the apple core would count as litter and you could be fined if throwing it out of the car window.

This is true, there are a couple of months of the year when our school run involves walking around/through a tree’s worth of squished and rotten apples.

Hmm... yes, it's organic. Yes, it will decompose but... there a few more things to consider. For example, this may be an invasive variety which is not native to the "disposal site" and can, therefore upset the ecosystem. Would you chuck out a bunch of Japanese knotweed out of your car window? How about a turd? Naturel, organic, compostable turd...
Ultimately, if one person does it, it may not be a big deal. But if one person doesn't think it's a big deal than 100 people won't think it's a big deal. Before you know it, the verge is full of litter.

I am meticulous about not littering normally BUT I will happily chuck an apple core out the window - but only on a country road into a hedgerow etc. I wouldn't on a main road or onto an 'inhabited' area

I always thought if it grows there naturally its fine. (So apple yes, orange/banana no)

that said I’d use my common sense, if it was safe to do so and unobtrusive I probably would, if it was likely to be dangerous or in people’s way then no,

It is not going to decompose in 30 seconds.

There is potential danger in that it will attract animals to dangerous roadsides, increasing their chances of getting hit by a vehicle.