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What is the normal outcome of these orange peels? Fed to livestock? Mulch? Or just added to landfill? The results were impressive, but I imagine there were mon

What is the normal outcome of these orange peels? Fed to livestock? Mulch? Or just added to landfill? The results were impressive, but I imagine there were months of rotting orange peels. Which is probably not ideal neighbors, but fine in otherwise barren, uninhabited land.

wnissen 2y ago
I thought it was interesting that the climate caused them to decompose, when orange peel is one of the most common forms of garbage I see on higher elevation (6000 ft. / 2000 m) trails. It's dry enough that the peel effectively never rots. Just goes to show that it's all about the system. https://thetrek.co/pacific-crest-trail/how-much-trash-gets-left-on-the-pct-two-scientists-thru-hiked-it-to-find-out/ https://thetrek.co/pacific-crest-trail/how-much-trash-gets-l...
stevage 2y ago
You don't need to imagine: >"Kind of passing through this gross stage in between of kind of sludgy stuff filled with fly larvae."
- datavirtue 2y ago
  Yeah, the land was moving for a while.
- rolfea 2y ago
  I wonder about the practicality of complementing that stage of the decomposition with a free-range poultry operation. Bringing in chickens, the birds eat the larvae, and generate more fertilizer along the way.
  - stevage 2y ago
    Reminds me of some permaculture setups I've seen that do something exactly like that. There's a raised bin full of food scraps, it gets populated with fly larvae, which the chickens eat. There are also startups that take in organic waste and use it to breed soldier fly larvae, which they then harvest and sell as protein for animal food etc.
Mistletoe 2y ago
https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1994/jun/23/straight-billions-orange-peels-tropicana-minute-ma/ https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1994/jun/23/straight-bil... >As for what happens to all the rinds from that mountain of oranges Tropicana processes, the nutrition in them (and apparently there is a lot) eventually comes back to us in the form of hamburgers. Tropicana and other processors dry the rinds, chop them up, and sell them for cattle feed.
- netsharc 2y ago
  > the company would be allowed to dump its discarded orange peel at no cost on degraded land in the park. > The juice company agreed to the deal, and some 12,000 tonnes of waste orange peel carried by a convoy of 1,000 truckloads was unceremoniously dumped on virtually lifeless soils at the site. I guess they weren't doing this cattle feed deal back then, since evidently it was more economical for them to find a free dumping ground? Maybe they produce too much of it: 12000 tonnes, that's the cargo capacity of ninety 747s...
  - ThrowawayTestr 2y ago
    The dumping was close to the factory so they saved money in shipping costs right there.
    - netsharc 2y ago
      I guess they weren't selling the rinds to cattle feed producers (or maybe only a low percentage of it, and have to figure out how to get rid of the rest). If the rinds were being sold, they'd be sold at a profit or at least try to be cost-neutral.
ineedaj0b 2y ago
i grew up near an orange producer and they burned them. god it stunk. nice to see they found a better way to use the peels
- Suppafly 2y ago
  I'm really surprised there aren't a bunch of secondary by-products created from the peels. Obviously there is always going to be some waste, but you'd think they'd extract all the oils and stuff first.

wnissen 2y ago

I thought it was interesting that the climate caused them to decompose, when orange peel is one of the most common forms of garbage I see on higher elevation (6000 ft. / 2000 m) trails. It's dry enough that the peel effectively never rots. Just goes to show that it's all about the system. https://thetrek.co/pacific-crest-trail/how-much-trash-gets-left-on-the-pct-two-scientists-thru-hiked-it-to-find-out/ https://thetrek.co/pacific-crest-trail/how-much-trash-gets-l...

stevage 2y ago

You don't need to imagine: >"Kind of passing through this gross stage in between of kind of sludgy stuff filled with fly larvae."

datavirtue 2y ago
Yeah, the land was moving for a while.
rolfea 2y ago
I wonder about the practicality of complementing that stage of the decomposition with a free-range poultry operation. Bringing in chickens, the birds eat the larvae, and generate more fertilizer along the way.
- stevage 2y ago
  Reminds me of some permaculture setups I've seen that do something exactly like that. There's a raised bin full of food scraps, it gets populated with fly larvae, which the chickens eat. There are also startups that take in organic waste and use it to breed soldier fly larvae, which they then harvest and sell as protein for animal food etc.

Mistletoe 2y ago

https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1994/jun/23/straight-billions-orange-peels-tropicana-minute-ma/ https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1994/jun/23/straight-bil... >As for what happens to all the rinds from that mountain of oranges Tropicana processes, the nutrition in them (and apparently there is a lot) eventually comes back to us in the form of hamburgers. Tropicana and other processors dry the rinds, chop them up, and sell them for cattle feed.

netsharc 2y ago
> the company would be allowed to dump its discarded orange peel at no cost on degraded land in the park. > The juice company agreed to the deal, and some 12,000 tonnes of waste orange peel carried by a convoy of 1,000 truckloads was unceremoniously dumped on virtually lifeless soils at the site. I guess they weren't doing this cattle feed deal back then, since evidently it was more economical for them to find a free dumping ground? Maybe they produce too much of it: 12000 tonnes, that's the cargo capacity of ninety 747s...
- ThrowawayTestr 2y ago
  The dumping was close to the factory so they saved money in shipping costs right there.
  - netsharc 2y ago
    I guess they weren't selling the rinds to cattle feed producers (or maybe only a low percentage of it, and have to figure out how to get rid of the rest). If the rinds were being sold, they'd be sold at a profit or at least try to be cost-neutral.

ineedaj0b 2y ago

i grew up near an orange producer and they burned them. god it stunk. nice to see they found a better way to use the peels

Suppafly 2y ago
I'm really surprised there aren't a bunch of secondary by-products created from the peels. Obviously there is always going to be some waste, but you'd think they'd extract all the oils and stuff first.