Disposal of apples happens on two different levels; there is the disposal by consumers and the disposal by producers. On the consumer side apples are biodegradable and are preferred to be recycled through composts, which can be a composting bin or a compost made in your yard. Although composts are preferred, apples are also disregarded like any other trash we throw away. Apples are perfect for composts because “apples have a good source of nitrogen, which is important for compost break down” (“How to Compost Apples”). Not only do we as consumers throw the core of our apples away, but those little stickers on our apples are there too. There is an issue with the stickers from apples being washed down the drain or put into a compost, rather than being thrown into the trash. When we don’t throw these plastic stickers in the trash, they can end up “in bays and oceans” (Agrawal). The producer side of disposal is harder to find information about and I did not find anything, but we can assume that there is disposal of rotten apples, tree branches and leaves, and even manufacturing equipment and the equipment used for transportation, like crates.
A somewhat social and environmental impact that comes with apples and disposal has to deal with whether or not it is okay to throw an apple out of a car window because apples are biodegradable. The reason that throwing an apple out of your car window while driving down the highway is a bad decision is one that most people would probably not think of. Throwing food and trash out of your window, like an apple, draws animals to the side of the road, which could easily result in the death of the animal. From a news source a zookeeper explained how we are helping “animals get drawn out to the roads” and there are many reasons, but “a big one is trash” (Oliver). It is important for people to think of this impact we are creating by just throwing a food that will biodegrade out of our car window. The animals are the ones who are being impacted and people should learn that we could potentially harm them by doing something that seems so harmless.