Name____________________________________________ #______ Date______________ Hour_______
Center #4: What Would You Do if You Were the Landfill Operator?
Directions: This is lab activity that requires you to follow step-by-step instructions. Please read the steps that follow:
Step 1: Find the “What is Leachate?” laminated article in the tub of materials. Take a few minutes to read it.
Step 2: Answer the Pre-Lab questions below:
1. Describe leachate: ______________________________________________________________________
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2. How does leachate form? ________________________________________________________________
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3. Where does leachate go? ________________________________________________________________
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4. What are some of the environmental concerns with leachate? ____________________________________
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5. What are some ways that leachate can be prevented and/or treated? ______________________________
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Step 3: You are going to create a scientific model of two landfills. Ask the teacher for the two baggies of froot loops cereal. Label one bag “landfill #1” and the other “landfill #2”; these will represent the trash in each landfill.
Step 4: Make sure there are 24 froot loops in each baggie; do not take them out of the bag. Record the number of each color (type of waste) in the chart below. Make sure you pay attention to which bag represents landfill #1, and which represents landfill #2.
Data for Both Landfills
Color of
Froot
Loop purple blue
Type of Waste it
Represents food waste paper
Hazardous or
Non Hazardous
Non Hazardous
Non Hazardous
Number of Froot
Loops in the
Landfill #1 Bag
Number of Froot
Loops in the
Landfill #2 Bag green yellow orange red aluminum cans tires batteries chemical waste
Non Hazardous
Hazardous
Hazardous
Hazardous

Step 5: Use the bottom of the plastic beakers in the tub of materials to crush the froot loops while they are still in the bag.
Step 6: Take the two Styrofoam cups and bowls out of the tub of materials.
Step 7: Place the Styrofoam cup labeled landfill #1 into one of the bowls; place the other Styrofoam cup labeled landfill #2 into the other bowl.
Step 8: Open the baggie labeled landfill #1 and pour the crushed froot loops into the Styrofoam cup labeled landfill #1.
Step 9: Open the baggie labeled landfill #2 and pour the crushed froot loops into the Styrofoam cup labeled landfill #2.
Step 10: Fill the graduated cylinder up with 250 ml of water.
Step 11: Four half of the water into landfill #1 cup, and the other half into landfill #2 cup. Observe as the
“leachate” seeps out of the hole in the cup into the bowl.
Step 12: Answer the Post-Lab questions below:
1. Look at the overall color of the leachate in each bowl. Look back at the “Data for Both Landfills” chart (on the front of this page) to determine if the waste is hazardous or non hazardous. Record what you see in the chart below:
Color Spectrum Chart
Landfill Leachate Results
Landfill #1
Information
Landfill #2
Primary Color
Primary Waste Type
Hazardous or
Non-Hazardous
2. If you had to choose only one of the landfills to fix, which one would it be and why?___________________
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3. What were the Styrofoam cups with the holes in them meant to represent in this activity? _______________
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4. What were the bowls that the Styrofoam cups leaked into meant to represent? _______________________
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5. What was the water in the graduated cylinder meant to represent? ________________________________
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6. Describe a way that landfills could be designed to reduce the probability of leachate contaminating nearby groundwater systems: (Construct your response on loose leaf paper and staple it to this one)