This past August, I began an experiment. Knowing that we would be studying the topic of Waste & Litter in the spring, I decided to bury five objects outside the school. The goal was to examine which of the objects would decompose in a nine month period.
After today’s lecture on Waste & Litter, students were asked to predict which of the items might have decomposed. Of course, after learning about the invention of plastics and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, students had an inkling that the results of the experiment might not be all that encouraging.
As it turns out, the buried paper was almost totally decomposed. The grocery bag and plastic water bottle were both perfectly preserved. The napkin was completely decomposed. And the apple core was entirely gone too… except for the sticker. So think twice before you throw that Styrofoam cup out the car window. Future generations will find it just as annoying as you do.
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