Almost everyone loves to eat a banana. They are easy to pack into your bag and even easier to eat. Just peel off the skin and bite into that lovely fruit. Better still, bananas are packed full of protein and fibre so they are good for you. They are so popular, in fact, that about 100 billion of them are eaten around the world every year. That’s a lot of bananas!
Did You Know?
Bananas may look as if they grow on a tree. In fact, it is not a tree but a large plant.
Because of the large amount of energy contained in bananas, this wonderful and delicious fruit has become very popular with sportsmen and athletes. Bananas contain potassium, which helps muscles to relax and nerve cells to respond efficiently. Look carefully at the TV and you may often see world-class tennis players quickly eating a banana.
Recently, bananas have become an important food for climbers and mountain walkers. And why not? They are easy to carry and easy to dispose of. Surely, on the mountain where there are no waste bins, it’s all right to throw away the skin? It will surely decompose, leaving no mess behind? If you think this, you are wrong. Banana skins take much longer to decompose than you may think.
At 1,345 metres, Ben Nevis is Scotland’s highest mountain and 130,000 people climb to its peak every year. Recently, more and more visitors have been throwing away banana skins on the mountainside, leaving behind about 300 every week.
Because it is much colder on the side of a mountain, it takes much longer for banana skins to decompose. Wild animals have been eating the skins. Because of the high sugar content, there have been concerns that these may damage the animals’ health. The overall message has become very clear: don’t throw away your banana skins in the outdoors. Take them home and dispose of them properly.
We should always be aware that different products decompose at different speeds. You may be surprised at how long some products take.
- Plastic bag: 1,000 years
- Plastic bottle: 500 years
- Crisp packet: 80 years
- Banana skin: two years
- Paper tissues: one month
Question:
Here is an alternative way to dispose of your banana skins
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