Littering In Minnesota Includes More Than Just Trash

When trying to eat right, it's essential to incorporate fruits and vegetables into your diet whenever possible. On the way to work in the morning, I try to enjoy a banana or an apple, and when I finish, I'm always stuck wondering what to do with the peel or the apple core, do I keep it in the car, or can I just roll down my window and deposit the organic material in a ditch?

What Is Littering Defined As In Minnesota?

Minnesota Statute 169.42 states that littering is considered:

"...throw, deposit, place, or dump, or cause to be thrown, deposited, placed, or dumped upon any street or highway or upon any public or privately owned land adjacent thereto without the owner's consent any snow, ice, glass bottle, glass, nails, tacks, wire, cans, garbage, swill, papers, ashes, cigarette filters, debris from fireworks, refuse, carcass of any dead animal, offal, trash or rubbish or any other form of offensive matter, or any other substance likely to injure any person, animal, or vehicle upon any such street or highway."

So anytime you toss or see someone toss a cigarette butt out the window while driving are guilty of littering. But I don't see anything about organic waste like an apple core or a banana peel.

Organic Waste Brings Animals To The Roadway

Here's where you'll see a ticket for tossing a banana peel onto the roadway. The organic waste, like a banana peel or apple core, would bring animals like raccoons, deer, opossums, etc, to the road to eat, which could then cause injury to a person, or cause damage to a vehicle.

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Yes, Tossing A Banana Peel Out Your Car Window Is Littering & Illegal

Based on that, tossing your organic waste like a banana peel out your window would be a misdemeanor, and depending on the judge, you might be sentenced to cleaning up the roadside.