Experiment: The outcome of the effect of litter on plants over time.
Macky Holmes
Grd. 12
Introduction:
One thing that the environment suffers from terribly in this day and age is litter. Everywhere. People are so used to dropping packets and papers as they walk or throwing their fast food bag out of the car window as they drive along the highway. It is a problem because apart from packaging affecting animals, it is also said that litter like plastic or metal/ aluminium is harsh on plants well as hinders their growth and health. People have come up with ideas to find a suitable solution and one of these solutions is biodegradable packaging. It is said to be better for plants because it is …show more content…
Because it isn’t often disposed of separately to other materials, it doesn’t really affect the environment in the positive way that it could. It gets thrown out with all the other rubbish instead of being put separately and used as compost, so what they’re saying is, if not thrown away separately, it is just as bad as non-biodegradable waste.
The website can be found at: http://www.ehow.com/info_8562410_effects-biodegradable-waste.html
Experiment:
I wanted to test whether biodegradable packaging really is better for plants and the environment than other/no packaging or not, which is why I came up with an experiment to test this.
Hypothesis:
Plants that have biodegradable packaging in their soil will grow better than plants with other/no packaging in their soil.
Aim:
To prove that biodegradable packaging helps plants grow bigger than any other/no packaging …show more content…
Results:
Week 1 Week 2 Week 4 Week 8 Week 12
Leaf size:
Plastic 4.5cm 7cm 11.2cm 12cm 12.4cm
Plain 3cm 7.4cm 8cm 9.3cm 10.5cm
Bio 4.3cm 5cm 6.5cm 7.3cm 8.7cm
Metal 3.4cm 5.5cm 7.3cm 9cm 9.6cm No. of flowers
Plastic 0 0 0 0 1
Plain 0 0 3 5 9
Bio 0 0 0 0 0
Metal 0 0 0 0 0
Conclusion:
The number of flowers was placed as a matter of personal interest because I was just focussing on different packaging’s effect on growth not flowering or even plant density. I found it interesting that the one that was unaffected by any packaging developed the most flowers. As for the leaf sizes, the plant with the plastic in its soil has grown the most and the one with the biodegradable packaging in its soil has shown the least growth. Therefore my previous statement has been proven incorrect.
What I could have done better:
• I could have grown the flowers from seeds to ensure that they were under controlled conditions at all times.
• I could have measured leaf width as well as length and also leaf density to get more accurate results.
• I could have measured them weekly instead of randomly.
Week 1
plastic tin biodegradable