Is taking out the trash one of your chores at home? Sometimes the bags are light, other times they’re so heavy you have to drag them to the dumpster.

Based on how much trash is produced by your family, what is your hypothesis on how much garbage Americans generate?

How much garbage does a typical American family of four generate in one week? A. About 20 pound B. 50 pounds C pounds D. 250 pounds

How much garbage is that for each person for one day? A. 1 pound B. 3-4 pounds C. Over 10 pounds D. 22 pounds

Americans generate about 190 to 200 million tons of garbage a year. That is enough trash to fill a bumper-to-bumper convoy of garbage trucks halfway to the moon.

What happens to this garbage? Sure, it goes in the garbage truck and we never see it again. But it does go somewhere. Usually, it goes to a landfill. Then what happens to it?

Every day, leaves die and fall off of plants. In the Fall, many trees lose their leaves. Grass is mowed in yards. What happens to all of this dead plant material?

Why aren’t we up to our necks in garbage, dead plant material and dead animals?

When living things die, what happens to the energy trapped in the bodies of the organisms?

When we throw things away, what happens to the energy trapped in the matter of those objects when they end up in the landfill?

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Matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed but they can change forms. Everything on Earth is recycled at one point or another. Anything alive or anything that used to be alive is called biomass. Biomass can be decomposed by bacteria and other microorganisms. Once it is decomposed, some of its energy can be put back into the living system.

Think of everything you throw away that can decompose; fruit peels, meat, bread, vegetable matter etc… What happens to all of that biomass? Is there something you can do with your non-meat food scraps that can save space in a landfill?

Filling the compost column. Fill your compost column 2/3 full of “green” materials. Shredding the material into smaller pieces will quicken the process. “greens” – green leaves, fruit or vegetable scraps, grass or plant clippings enough to fill 2L bottle 2/3 full

 Fill the rest of your column with “brown” materials. Shred into smaller pieces for best results. “browns” – dry leaves, straw, hay, or sawdust enough to fill 2L bottle 1/3full

 Add soil to the bucket  Mix everything up by hand  Add pond water to moisten

Observation

Question

Hypothesis write down what you think will happen to the material

Predict write down how you think it will happen.

Investigation

Collecting Data  Using a thermometer, measure the temperature of the middle of the column. Record your measurements on the data collection table.  Smell the compost column by wafting air from the top. Record your observation.  Record a physical description (what it looks like) of the column each day.  Once all of the data is collected, plot the daily temperatures as a line graph.

Fill in Day 1 info

You should have all of your data

Plot the data as a line graph

Observation Write a summary of what you saw during the experiment.

Interpret the Data What was happening in the compost column

Circle the one that matches your results

Complete the rest of the lab handout after all data is complete.