Abstract
This lab was created to help us recognize how much waste we actually produce in one day. Although we may not really think about it, our waste per day is what ends up in municipal landfills and maybe even recycling centers. As citizens, we have to begin to recognize what we are throwing away, because of all the dangers that have started over the decades that deal with waste collection and pollution. Within this lab, we were supposed to collect our trash for 24 hours, and then count up all the items and see how much of it was actually recyclable, compostable, or reusable. On a school day where I didn't eat much lunch, I produced three pieces of trash. One item being recyclable, one was compostable, and two were reusable. This shows that if I were to reuse these items that are reusable, I would have only sent one piece of trash to a waste facility on that particular day
Problem
How much waste do I produce in one day?
Materials
Trash/Plastic/Reusable Bag, scale, trash
Method
Carry a trash bag around with you for 24 hours collecting all your waste, except food products and anything containing bodily fluids. At the end of the day, see what you collected, calculate totals, analyze.
Data
This lab was created to help us recognize how much waste we actually produce in one day. Although we may not really think about it, our waste per day is what ends up in municipal landfills and maybe even recycling centers. As citizens, we have to begin to recognize what we are throwing away, because of all the dangers that have started over the decades that deal with waste collection and pollution. Within this lab, we were supposed to collect our trash for 24 hours, and then count up all the items and see how much of it was actually recyclable, compostable, or reusable. On a school day where I didn't eat much lunch, I produced three pieces of trash. One item being recyclable, one was compostable, and two were reusable. This shows that if I were to reuse these items that are reusable, I would have only sent one piece of trash to a waste facility on that particular day
Problem
How much waste do I produce in one day?
Materials
Trash/Plastic/Reusable Bag, scale, trash
Method
Carry a trash bag around with you for 24 hours collecting all your waste, except food products and anything containing bodily fluids. At the end of the day, see what you collected, calculate totals, analyze.
Data
Specific Analysis
1. What is done to control the amount of pollution created from a landfill?
Pollution is controlled within landfills by layers of soil and rock. Landfills place these here so that the trash can compost and not disturb the environment. Trash can also be burned for energy, or recycled and reused.
2. Many people think landfills should not be expensive since they are a hole in the ground. Explain why a landfill such as above can cost in the millions of dollars to build and keep up.
Landfills can be expensive because they have to sort most of the trash they receive, which can be time consuming. Money for landfills is also put into the upkeep of the landfill, and to insure that none of the trash is producing any harmful gases or runoff.
3. How did the amount of waste you and your family each create compare with what you expected?
I know that personally, I thought that I would definitely produce more trash, and any other day I probably do. My family produces more trash than just 51g a day.
4.What are some reasons the average could be different than your (or family’s) amount for one day?
Probably because we couldn't count food products into our waste average. My family eats a lot of food and if the waste from that was calculated into the total weight it would have been much higher than without the food.
5. Calculate how much trash you accumulate in one month’s time: 510g
6. There are approximately 1,300 students at our school. How much trash do you estimate would be produced by all the students in our school over the course of 10 months (one school year)?
At the least, 6,630,000g of trash.
7. What was the total weight of your recyclable material?
I produced 4g of recyclable waste.
8. What was the total weight of your reusable material?
I produced 8g of reusable material.
9. What was the total weight of your compostable material?
I produced 4g of compostable material.
10. Now, calculate how much trash you would produce if all the recyclable, reusable, and compostable material was not in your trash bag. How much trash would that save over the course of one year?
If all of these materials were not in my trash, I would have produced 9g of trash on this day. Over the course of one year, this would save 2,920g of trash.
11. How much trash would the school save through the course of one school year if all the recyclable, reusable, and compostable material was not thrown in a landfill?
The school would save 3,120,000g of trash per year.
Conclusion
My hypothesis was not exactly correct. I thought that I would produce more trash. There were many errors with this lab though, because I did it on a school day, I did not produce as much trash as I would have sitting at home or somewhere else. Also, because we could not collect food products, and that's where I believe most of my trash goes, this lab was incorrect for myself.
Although,this lab did help me gain an idea of why I need to be cautious about what I produce trash-wise. For only producing three pieces of trash, the largest piece of trash I collected could not be recycled, reused, or composted. It also made it clear for myself that doing all of these things (reducing, reusing, recycling, and composting) makes a huge difference of what and how much we put into landfills. It cut the trash in half in most of the calculations, and it made me proud because we recycle a lot at my house.
My citation article talked about how New York City in the 1980s had the largest landfill in the world. It was taller than the Empire State Building and could be seen from space. The city just recently decided that they are turning it into a huge solar energy project. They began to cleanup the landfill in the mid-2000s. The city is now turning it into a parkland that is three times the size of Central park, and will be placing renewable energy sources there instead of the landfill.
1. What is done to control the amount of pollution created from a landfill?
Pollution is controlled within landfills by layers of soil and rock. Landfills place these here so that the trash can compost and not disturb the environment. Trash can also be burned for energy, or recycled and reused.
2. Many people think landfills should not be expensive since they are a hole in the ground. Explain why a landfill such as above can cost in the millions of dollars to build and keep up.
Landfills can be expensive because they have to sort most of the trash they receive, which can be time consuming. Money for landfills is also put into the upkeep of the landfill, and to insure that none of the trash is producing any harmful gases or runoff.
3. How did the amount of waste you and your family each create compare with what you expected?
I know that personally, I thought that I would definitely produce more trash, and any other day I probably do. My family produces more trash than just 51g a day.
4.What are some reasons the average could be different than your (or family’s) amount for one day?
Probably because we couldn't count food products into our waste average. My family eats a lot of food and if the waste from that was calculated into the total weight it would have been much higher than without the food.
5. Calculate how much trash you accumulate in one month’s time: 510g
6. There are approximately 1,300 students at our school. How much trash do you estimate would be produced by all the students in our school over the course of 10 months (one school year)?
At the least, 6,630,000g of trash.
7. What was the total weight of your recyclable material?
I produced 4g of recyclable waste.
8. What was the total weight of your reusable material?
I produced 8g of reusable material.
9. What was the total weight of your compostable material?
I produced 4g of compostable material.
10. Now, calculate how much trash you would produce if all the recyclable, reusable, and compostable material was not in your trash bag. How much trash would that save over the course of one year?
If all of these materials were not in my trash, I would have produced 9g of trash on this day. Over the course of one year, this would save 2,920g of trash.
11. How much trash would the school save through the course of one school year if all the recyclable, reusable, and compostable material was not thrown in a landfill?
The school would save 3,120,000g of trash per year.
Conclusion
My hypothesis was not exactly correct. I thought that I would produce more trash. There were many errors with this lab though, because I did it on a school day, I did not produce as much trash as I would have sitting at home or somewhere else. Also, because we could not collect food products, and that's where I believe most of my trash goes, this lab was incorrect for myself.
Although,this lab did help me gain an idea of why I need to be cautious about what I produce trash-wise. For only producing three pieces of trash, the largest piece of trash I collected could not be recycled, reused, or composted. It also made it clear for myself that doing all of these things (reducing, reusing, recycling, and composting) makes a huge difference of what and how much we put into landfills. It cut the trash in half in most of the calculations, and it made me proud because we recycle a lot at my house.
My citation article talked about how New York City in the 1980s had the largest landfill in the world. It was taller than the Empire State Building and could be seen from space. The city just recently decided that they are turning it into a huge solar energy project. They began to cleanup the landfill in the mid-2000s. The city is now turning it into a parkland that is three times the size of Central park, and will be placing renewable energy sources there instead of the landfill.