Activity (Hands-On)Grades 3 - 5
This Landfill Is a Gas!
Students model and explore landfills.Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1983-2001
Student groups work as engineers to build and observe model landfills they make using two-liter plastic bottles. They come to understand the process and pitfalls of landfills as a waste disposal method.
Decaying landfill garbage can produce harmful methane gas, which is a source of fires and environmental hazards. So, engineers design gas pipe systems to collect landfill gases, including methane, carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide, which are used to generate electricity.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Build a model of a landfill.
- Make predictions and observations of a model landfill over a four-day period.
- Explain some of the major cause and effect problems of landfills.
- Describe the role of engineers in landfill management.