Waste Diary
Procedure:
Carry a trash bag around with you for 24 hours collecting all your waste, except:


Food products
Feminine hygiene products, bandages or anything else that would have bodily
fluids or blood
Materials:




Reusable bag
Municipal Solid Waste (collected in 24 hrs.)
Scale
Proper Disposal receptacles
Problem:
How much trash do I produce in a span of 24 hours? How can this amount be reduced?
Hypothesis:
In a span of the allotted 24 hours I will collect 90 grams of trash.
Observations & Data:
While collecting the trash during the 24 hour period I noticed just how much waste I
create alone. Some of the products were fast food wrappers, plastic bags, plastic bottles
printer paper, paper plates, paper towels, gum wrappers, and soda cans. I found that these
were all regular products that I use basically everyday. The total amount of waste that I
collected was 113.6 grams, which was higher than my initial hypothesis.
Data Table
Category
Items
Recyclable?
Compostable?
Reusable?
Weight
Paper
products
7
6
2
Aluminum
2
2
29.3 g
3
1
15.4 g
12
9
68.9 g
Metal
Plastic
Synthetic
fibers
Natural
fibers
Styrofoam
Glass
Other
Totals
2
0
113.6
Pictures
Questions 1. What is done to control the amount of pollution created from a
landfill? Landfills create massive amounts of air, water and soil pollution. To protect
the areas that surround a landfill a series of pipes and drainage systems help keep the
pollution from spreading around like I normally would. Synthetic liners are also used to
protect the soil around the landfill so that toxic pollutants won’t seep through to the
groundwater. A lot of trash also becomes incinerated or burned, so that there is physically
less waste.
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 potentially expensive, because they
require a lot of different parts. For example the synthetic liners may cost a lot to put
around the landfill. Fossil fuels are used to help burn the methane in the incinerators.
Heavy machines must be bought and used to help circulate the trash around. Everybody
creates waste and most of that waste can’t be reused or recycled, so then it goes to the
landfill. This will continue unless we find new ways to recycle or reduce our waste
amount.
3. How did the amount of waste you and your family each create
compare with what you expected? The amount of waste was relatively close, but not as
close as it should have been. I predicted 90 total grams and the actual amount was 113.6.
I never quite felt like I used so many products then just threw them away. After this lab, I
can now understand why it only takes one day for my family to fill up one entire trash
bag.
4.What are some reasons the average could be different then your (or
family’s) amount for one day? Larger family sizes would result in more accumulation
of trash and waste. Another family might eat a lot more fast food, which could result in
an increased amount of paper and plastic trash. The more people the more waste.
5. Calculate how much trash you accumulate in one month’s time:
113.6 x 30 days = 3,408 grams of trash per month
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)?
3,408g/month x 10 months = 34,080 g x 1300 students = 44,304,000 g/school
year from students
7. What was the total weight of your recyclable material?
74 grams of recyclable material
8. What was the total weight of your reusable material?
0 grams of reusable material
9. What was the total weight of your compostable material?
8.2 grams 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?
113.6 – 74 – 8.2 – 0 = 31.4 g, if all the recyclable, reusable, and compostable
material was not in my trash bag, I would have 40,896 g of waste [3.408 x 12 months =
40,896 g]. After recycling, composting and reusing, I would have 11,304 g. (31.4 g x 30
days = 942 g/month x 12 months = 11,304 g/ year) 29,592 g of trash would be saved in a
year.
11. How much could the school save through the course of one school year
if all the recyclable, reusable, and compostable material was not thrown in the
landfill?
44,304,000 g/ school year from students, 942g/month x 10 months = 9420g/10
months x 1300 = 12,220,000 g of waste per school year by the students. 32,084,000 g of
waste could be saved each school year.
General Conclusions
Evaluate your hypothesis: The hypothesis that was previously stated was quite off. The
original estimate was 90g of total waste produced in 24 hours. Turns out that the actual
amount of waste was 113.4g. This shows how little I actually know how much waste I
produce daily.
Possible sources of error: Some potential source of error from this lab may be the
unpredictable factor of personal habits. Different people generate different amounts of
waste each day. Another source of error may be the fact that not all waste products were
collected, this means that most of the weights could be potentially higher. Food wastes
and personal hygiene products were not specifically collected for sanitation purposes.
Application: Many lessons and studies can be derived from this personal waste journal.
Scientist could study the amount of waste produced compared to the body mass index of
different people. Also the percent of reusable objects in this study was sad, maybe the
makers of these products could make them reusable in a way or at least let them be
recycled. Not all of the objects were recyclable either, this might help recycling
companies generate new ideas of how to recycle newer products. The most shocking part
of this diary was the fact that some of the paper materials were compostable. I personally
did not know that paper could be composted. This may make people think about
purchasing a composter, if they want to help the environment. The things we use in daily
life are more than what most people may believe they use. One part that was left out
during this lab was the amount of food that is wasted each year. Most fruits, vegetable
and meats are compostable. Instead of just throwing away uneaten food, we could help
the local soil by composting it to make nutrients.
Works cited
Kruszelnicki, Karl S.. "So much food, so much waste › Dr Karl's Great Moments In
Science (ABC Science)." ABC.net.au. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/20