A personal bugbear of ours - orange peels and banana peels left on the mountain!
Often, there is no other plastic waste around them, which suggests that people are making a conscious effort not to leave non-biodegradable waste (which is great).
However, these fruit skins still take a long time to break down - making the place more unpleasant and potentially introducing unwanted things into the local food chain*.
We're also seeing a lot of egg shells and seafood shells too. We're sure we are not alone in not wanting to climb through other people's food waste, or share our rest spot with the leftovers of someone else's lunch.
Here is an easy rule - if we carry it onto the mountain, we should carry it off too.
It is not the nicest thing in the world, carrying a smelly banana skin, or sticky melon rind, back down the trail in our bags - and we would never want to discourage people from choosing these foods over store-bought, plastic wrapped snacks - but there are ways around it.
You can do more prep at home. Get rid of the peels there, and carry your fruit up ready to eat in a reusable container.
We have to remember that these mountains are a shared resource.
*assuming the trees or plants that bear these fruits do not grow in the immediate vicinity.
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