8+Science+4+McNair's+MSW+Project

Cost-Benefit Analysis of Compost as Fertilizer
[|My Voicethread]


 * I. Introduction:**

Our hypothesis was that if fertilizer is replaced by compost then the benefits will be visible in both efficiency and cost. We thought that if school switched to composting things taken from grounds maintenance and using the compost received instead of using fertilizer bought from stores the school could save both time and money. __Hypothesis:__ If store-bought fertilizer is replaced by compost, then the grass will grow faster and last longer, and it will also save the school money.

-Planting Trays, or Pots -1500 Mililiters of soil -10.6 Grams of grass seed -10 Grams of Compost -10 Grams of fertilizer -Card Board -Ruler -Paper -Scissors -Camera -Cling wrap
 * II. Materials and Safety:**

-When using scissors, cut away from yourself -When working with soil, wear goggles to portect your eyes.
 * Safety:**

I. Gather materials. II. Gather information of how much school/business spends on lawn and feild fertilizer per year. III. Determine the savings of using compost as fertilizer compared to store bought fertilizer. IV. Separate one planting tray into three equal areas and fill each with the same amount of grass seed. V. Make sure each pot gets the same amount of water and sunlight VI. Wait for grass to reach a height of two inches. VII. Put compost in one pot, grass clippings in another pot, and leave one pot unfertilized. VIII. Continue giving each tray/pot the same amount of light and water. IX. Take pictures and measure height of grass each day. X. Compare the effectiveness of each kind of fertilizer by comparing growth times and rates. XI. Evaluate data to determine what is the most cost effective way to fertilize grass. XII. To collect further data, fill two equal sized pots with soil and grass seed. XIII. Add Compost to one pot and the same amount of fertilizer as compost added to the other. IXX. Measure soil each day, and elvauate the differences and efficiency of compost vs. store bought fertilizer.
 * III. Procedure:**

Independent Variable: Use of Compost as fertilizer Dependent Variable: Cost spent on fertilizer, and results on grass Control: Grass with No fertilizer or compost added Experimental Group 1: Fertilizer Experimental Group 2: Compost


 * IV. Data:

Daily Photographic Data** Wednesday, February 17, 2010 Thursday, February 18, 2010 Friday, February 18, 2010 Monday, February 22, 2010 Tuesday, February 23, 2010 Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Friday, February 26, 2010

Monday, March 1, 2010

**Data Table:**


 * Control ||  ||   ||   |||||||| Compost ||   ||   |||||| Fertilizer ||   ||   ||
 * || 1 || 2 || 3 || General |||| Average || 1 || 2 || 3 || General |||| Average || 1 || 2 || 3 || General || Average ||
 * 17-Feb || 6 || 8 || 7 || 7 || 7 ||  || 7 || 6 || 9 || 7 || 7.3 ||   || 9 || 6 || 6 || 7 || 7 ||
 * 18-Feb || 10 || 9 || 7 || 10 || 8.7 ||  || 7 || 10 || 9 || 10 || 9.3 ||   || 8 || 6 || 6 || 7 || 6.7 ||
 * 19-Feb || 12 || 10 || 11 || 11 || 11 ||  || 13 || 12 || 7 || 11 || 10.7 ||   || 8 || 9 || 7 || 7 || 8 ||
 * 22-Feb || 18 || 14 || 15 || 13 || 15.7 ||  || 18 || 16 || 14 || 17 || 16 ||   || 12 || 11 || 7 || 8 || 10 ||
 * 23-Feb || 17 || 18 || 12 || 15 || 15.7 ||  || 15 || 15 || 14 || 14 || 14.7 ||   || 10 || 9 || 10 || 8 || 9.7 ||
 * 24-Feb || 15 || 14 || 18 || 14 || 15.7 ||  || 20 || 13 || 16 || 14 || 16.3 ||   || 10 || 12 || 12 || 8 || 11.3 ||
 * 26-Feb || 16 || 15 || 11 || 15 || 10.7 ||  || 17 || 11 || 16 || 16 || 11.3 ||   || 14 || 7 || 7 || 8 || 9.3 ||
 * 1-March || 11 || 12 || 7 || 11 || 10 ||  || 22 || 20 || 15 || 14 || 17 ||   || 13 || 7 || 3 || 7 || 7.6 ||

**Line graph of daily and linear growth of grass:
 * V. Analysis:
 * || Control || Compost || Fertilizer ||
 * 17-Feb || 7 || 7 || 7 ||
 * 18-Feb || 10 || 10 || 7 ||
 * 19-Feb || 11 || 11 || 7 ||
 * 22-Feb || 13 || 17 || 8 ||
 * 23-Feb || 15 || 14 || 8 ||
 * 24-Feb || 14 || 14 || 8 ||
 * 26-Feb || 15 || 16 || 8 ||
 * 1-Mar || 11 || 14 || 7 ||



Bar graph of overall growth of grass: Graph Trends: The grass with Compost as fertilizer was the healthiest and fullest, and lasted the longest. The Fertilizer "burned" the grass. The grass with no type of fertilizer grew somewhat fast, but by the end, it was dying and did not last as long as the grass fertilzed with compost.


 * VI. Conclusion:

After data collection and analysis was over, we looked at the data and discovered that our hypothesis was proved correct. We believed that if compost was used to fertilize the lawns as opposed to store-bought fertilizer, then the school would save money and reduce its carbon footprint. We found that the school uses 3750 pounds of fertilizer per year. That's 75 bags of 50 pounds each. By switching to compost we would be reducing the amount of waste sent out of plastic, and we could also begin to use compost already collected more efficiently. Next, through our experiment to find which growth additive would make the grass healthier, we found that the most effective growth additive was compost. So, we could conclude that using compost as fertilizer was cheaper, and less damaging to the environment. We could also conclude that it was a more efficient way to grow healthier, better looking grass. Some of the problems in our experiment may have had an effect on our data. The biggest problem was for the photographic data. We had a hard time taking the pictures from the same angle and distance each day. This only affected our photographic data. It was purely a human error. One challenge we faced during data collection was the time to choose how to collect the heights of the grass. We finally ended up taking the measure of three random pieces in each division and finding the average. We also found the general height by eyeballing the average height. In conclusion, we can state that using compost as fertilizer is a more effective, cheaper way to fertilize grass that causes less harm to the environment than does using store-bought fertilizer. It costs little to nothing to maintain a compost pile, while fertilizer is around 600 dollars a ton. Compost reduces the MSW sent away from our campus by reusing other campus wastes. Compost is actually even more effective to grass, making it look better, and last longer. It is time we switch to do a favor for our budget, and our planet. **