"Alan Bell" wrote in
news:PMHfc.142120$gA5.1701704@attbi_s03:

We see a situation differently and would like to describe it to get
feedback from others.

We share a house with a large backyard. One corner of the backyard has
a concrete patio with two benches. One of us is concerned with plants,
gardening, conservation and recycling. That person ate an orange and
scattered nine pieces of the peel in a flower bed next to the patio.
His rationale was that the peels were biodegradable. The other of us
is concerned with rules, order and appearance. That person felt the
orange peels should have been placed in a trash can. His rationale is
that the peels are ugly.

We're cool and the best of friends. This didn't set off WWIII. But
after talking about it, we are curious as to what others think is
proper. We tried to put this into newsgroups that would tend to favor
one and the other position.

If the objective is nutrient recycling, put it in a place that is condusive
to that, like a compost pile OR if the peels were sufficiently small
chunks, tilling them into the flower bed may be acceptable. Just chucking
9 hunks of peel in a flower bed and expecting Mother Nature to take care of
it is tacky. A lot of things are biodegradable, but you really need the
bio- stuff and everything that comes with it. If not, you're just setting
up for a long time timetable and an orange peel on a long timetable, isn't
anything but garbage.

if the objective is to be able to put debris where ever convenient, then
buy the person an outdoor trashcan.

also, some people have said snails are attraced to orange peels.