Materials List: Composting Competition

Each student needs:

To share with the entire class:

  • outside location to place two compost piles for a month or more, a minimum of 1 m2 (10.76 ft2)
  • 1 truckload (1.14 m3 or 40.5 cubic feet) of yard trimmings/chipped branches and trees that are not completely degraded; tree trimming and landscaping companies often provide this service for free; alternative: search the neighborhood for bags of lawn clippings
  • hand air mattress inflator pump; costs $11 (look for a used one)
  • PVC pipe, 0.5 meter-long segment of 1.27 cm (half-inch) diameter
  • new pump action sprayer; for student safety, it is important that the sprayer has not previously contained pesticides; costs ~$20
  • 2 landscaping flags, or other way to mark the centers of the piles for daily temperature readings
  • compost pile thermometer, available at hardware stores and gardening centers, costs $12 or more
  • hacksaw
  • lighter or hairdryer, for heating PVC pipe
  • electrical tape
  • graph paper, colored pencils/markers, for plotting graphs
https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/usf_biorecycling_lesson01_activity3