As I was trying to look up problems with peach pits, I ran across an interesting post, How can I reuse or recycle … fruit “stones”? I was expecting an answer to the title, but there are 21 responses by readers. I have to agree with a lot of the other readers, that if it’s from the earth (organic), it should be returned to earth, as compost or buried.
Although there’s a risk in letting people just give advice about something they aren’t sure of (in other words, some people just guess instead of giving advice from experience), for example, one reply said, “Pet toy”, it relieved me that other people will speak up and advise against it. Obviously this person doesn’t have large dogs, because my 70 pound Lab/Shepherd would swallow that “toy” whole. Not to mention, the pits are toxic to dogs.
I think the strangest thing, on the same website, to recycle I found was How can I reuse or recycle an expired menstrual cup like the Diva Cup? Personally, I’ve never heard of those products, but this site is from the UK and so is the Mooncup and the Diva Cup is Canadian, so maybe it just hasn’t caught on in my region?
The website mentioned above, How Can I Recycle This? has some interesting info, but I think they should let readers rank the answers.
I guess the ultimate in recycling fruit pits is using them in flooring, which is what Stone Fruit Floors does. They sell flooring made of peach pits.
The floors consists of peach pips that have been laid by hand and sealed with glue, resin and urethane. The sharp edges of the pips are grinded off to expose the red hue of the pips and to make the floors comfortable to walk on with bare feet. Floors can either be fully installed on site or shipped as pre-manufactured tiles which reduce on-site labour requirements.
Apparently, it’s a part of South African architectural history,
The ready availability of stone fruit pips from the first orchards established by European settlers in the Cape made this durable material an obvious choice to use in flooring.
From a distance, it looks like cobbled stones. Here are a few links to pictures from their website:
- These floors started out mostly used at entrances where feet were wiped and other places with high foot traffic, but now they are used throughout the homes. In this photo, they combined the stone fruit floor with laminate.
- The stairs show off a closeup.
- It can even be installed in the shower!
Pretty unique!
Also on Keetsa, as an eco-friendly flooring for homes, Peach Pit Flooring.
