Environmental Science · Circular Economy
Test the biodegradability of everyday materials
Bury ten materials in soil for a month and record which break down.
- DifficultyEasy
- Estimated time2–4 weeks
- BudgetUnder ₹250
- ClassClass 6–10
- TeamSolo or up to 3
- You needHousehold materials
Prerequisites: None beyond your class work
Original · by TechnifyedExperimentScience Fair ProjectBeginner friendlyLow cost
Overview
Bury ten materials in soil for a month and record which break down.
Skills you will use
Materials and tools
- Samples of paper, leaf, fruit peel, cotton, plastic bag, "compostable" bag, foil, glass, wool, thermocol
- Pots of garden soil
- Labels
Step-by-step roadmap
Start
You will finish with: before and after photos and a table of mass lost by each material.
- 1
Prerequisites
Nothing special to know first. Then collect the 3 items in the materials list.
- 2
Learn
Read up on circular economy: decomposition, plastic, soil. Your textbook chapter and one short video are enough.
- 3
Plan
Write your question, your hypothesis and the one thing you will change. Draw the table you will fill in before you start.
- 4
Build
- Photograph and weigh each sample.
- Bury each at the same depth in moist soil.
- Keep the soil damp for four weeks.
- Dig up, photograph and weigh each sample again.
- Sort into broke down, partly and unchanged.
- 5
Test
Repeat every reading at least three times and check the result against what the science predicts.
- 6
Document
Record every reading with its unit, photograph the setup and draw a graph of the result. Report structure
- 7
Present
Explain the question, the method and the graph in two minutes; keep the setup ready to demonstrate. Presentation structure
- 8
Publish
Share the report and photos with your class, a science fair or your school magazine.
Expected outcome
Before and after photos and a table of mass lost by each material.
Other versions of this project
Advanced version
Test whether a "compostable" bag really breaks down in home conditions.
Science fair mode
Text marked "You write this" is a prompt for your own work; everything else is specific to this project.
- Problem
- You write thisWrite your question as: How does [what you change] affect [what you measure]?
- Hypothesis
- You write thisWrite it as: If [I change this], then [this will happen], because [reason].
- Variables
- You write thisName the one thing you change (independent), the thing you measure (dependent) and what you keep the same (controlled).
Materials and procedure are in Materials and the Roadmap.
Observation table
You write thisDraw a table with one column for what you change, one for each repeat reading and one for the average.
- Graph
- You write thisPlot what you changed along the bottom and what you measured up the side; use a bar chart for categories and a line graph for numbers.
- Results
- You write thisState what the graph shows in one or two sentences, with numbers.
- Conclusion
- You write thisSay whether the result supports your hypothesis and why you think so.
Display board
- Title and your name
- Question
- Hypothesis
- Materials
- Procedure (with photos)
- Data table and graph
- Conclusion
- What you would do next
Questions judges ask
- What would you change if you did this again?
- What was your biggest source of error, and how did you reduce it?
- Where is this idea used in real life?
Working as a team
Solo or up to 3. Suggested roles:
Report and presentation
Report structure
- Title and question
- Background: the science behind it
- Hypothesis
- Materials
- Method (steps, with a diagram or photo)
- Observations (table)
- Results (graph and calculation)
- Sources of error
- Conclusion
- What you would do next
- References
Presentation structure
- The question
- Why it matters
- The idea behind it
- Setup (photo)
- Method in three steps
- Results (one clear graph)
- What the result means
- Errors and limits
- Conclusion and next step
Viva questions
Prepare your own answers to these before you present.
- What is the aim of your project, in one sentence?
- What is the principle behind it?
- Why did you choose these materials or tools?
- What result did you get, and was it what you expected?
- What went wrong and how did you fix it?
- How could this be improved or used in real life?
Resources
Circular Economy for Sustainable BuildingsSchool of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada · Free course course
Becoming a Circular Economy ExpertAlison · Free course courseEnvironmental Education: Circular EconomyAlison · Free course courseCentral Pollution Control Boardcpcb.nic.inOur World in Dataourworldindata.orgSource and attribution
Original
Written by Technifyed. Free to use for your own school or college project; write the report in your own words. Added 1 Oct 2026.
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