Awards Earned: 2nd Place, 6th Life Science, PCA Science Fair

Do lunch packing materials decompose faster if they are buried in the ground or on top of the ground, and what materials decompose quicker?

Items buried in the ground will decompose faster than items on top of the ground. This will happen because of bacteria and moist conditions. Also, paper items will decompose faster than plastic items. Paper items are biodegradable. Plastic is not biodegradable.

A hole is dug in the garden approximately ten inches deep. One set of materials was placed in the hole. A picture was taken. The hole was filled back up with dirt. One set of materials was placed on top of the ground at the same spot. A picture was taken. A sifting box with a screen on it was placed on top of the materials to keep them from blowing away. Five months later the items were dug up. Pictures were taken. The materials were cleaned by a washcloth and brush. They were allowed to dry one week. Both sets and one new set were weighed.

Control Group:
The control group was a set of materials that were neither buried or placed outside on the top of the ground.

Variables:
There were two sets of variables. The materials that were buried and the materials that were placed on the top of the ground.

Materials:
Paper lunch bag
Juice drink box
Plastic sandwich bag
Potato chip bag
Plastic pudding cup


Equipment:
Shovel
Sifting box with screen
Camera
Scale

The paper lunch bag that was buried completely disintegrated. No trace of it could be found. The juice box was the next item that decomposed the most. The other plastic items did not decompose. As a whole the buried items weighed less than the items on top of the ground.

The hypothesis was true. Paper items buried in the ground decomposed faster than those on top of the ground. Plastic items might have decomposed if they were buried for more than five months.

Psalm 24:1 says, "The earth is the Lord's, and all it contains." Psalm 104:5a says, "He established the earth upon its foundation." Genesis 1:26 says, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in Our image according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earh, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'" God has made the world and He has put us in charge of it. Recycling and reducing waste is everyone's duty.

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