Name: Tiffany Kim​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Period: 1

Waste Audit Analysis and Conclusions

You spent a few days tracking the stuff you threw out and now it's time to analyze that waste.

Part 1: Separation
Separate your waste into recyclable, compostable, and landfill (despite where you actually threw them).

●​ Recyclables: must be a clean, glass, metal, or paper product or a plastic with resin code 1 or 2. If you
weren’t sure, send it to the landfill.
○​ How many items could you have sent to recycle?

●​ Compostable: this is organic waste like food scraps. Worms and the kind of decomposers that don’t stink
don’t like meat or dairy products, those go to the landfill. They will eat paper, grass clippings, yard debris, and
fruit/vegetable scraps, if you aren’t if they will eat it, LOOK IT UP, there are plenty of resources online.
○​ How many items could you have sent to compost?

10

●​ Landfill: all the items that couldn’t be recycled or composted.

26

●​ Total number of items tracked:

43

●​ Determine the % of items you could have sent ●​ Go back to your data and determine the
to each of the three categories above: Recycle, percentage of items you actually sent to the
Compost, Landfill Recycle, Compost, and Landfill
○​ % Recycle ○​ % Recycle

16.28% 11.63%
○​ % Compost ○​ % Compost

23.26% 0%
○​ % Landfill ○​ % Landfill

60.46% 72.09%
 ●​ Create 2 pie charts to show the data you calculated above. 1 chart for where the items could have gone, and 1
chart for where they did go. You may create your charts on paper or in excel/google sheets.

Part 2: Reflection

1.​ Based on the data in your pie charts, is your waste going to the proper disposal locations? Please explain using
your data to support your response.

According to my data, 16.28% of waste could have been recycled, but only 11.63% was actually recycled. And
while 23.26% of the waste could have been composted, none was composted. This means that a significant
portion of recyclable and compostable items ended up in the landfill.

2.​ What similarities and differences do you see between your data and those around you? Please explain using
data to support your response.

Many of my peers also reported that most of their waste ended up in the landfill due to lack of composting
and confusion about recyclability. For example, several students had 60–70% landfill just like my 64.2%, and
most had 0% composting. However, my recyclable waste percentage was slightly higher than some
classmates, possibly because I consume more packaged beverages that are recyclable.

3.​ How accurate do you think our data collection in this experiment was? Do you think students were honest
and detailed when tracking their waste?

I believe the data was somewhat accurate, but not perfect. Some students might have underestimated the
number of items or didn't record every piece of trash throughout the day. It's also possible that they weren’t
sure how to categorize an item and defaulted to landfill, which might skew the landfill percentage higher.

4.​ Based on your response to number 3, how do you think that would impact the analysis of this experiment?

If students were inconsistent or incomplete in their data tracking, it would make the results less reliable. For
example, underreporting compostable items could make composting seem less impactful than it really is. It
might also make it seem like recycling habits are worse than they are.
5.​ If your community started composting, explain how that would impact the amount of waste going into
landfills in your area.

If composting became a standard option in my community, it could immediately divert around 10% of my
household waste from the landfill, and likely much more if others participated. This would reduce methane
emissions from decomposing food in landfills and improve soil quality from compost reuse.

6.​ Propose a solution to reduce the amount of waste you personally are putting into the landfill. Justify your
response with data from your pie charts and/or inventory.

Switch from individually packaged snacks to bulk options and reusable containers. From my audit, 7 food
wrappers and 3 bread bags alone went to landfill, totaling 10 items that could’ve been avoided. If I reduce
these, my landfill percentage could drop, significantly improving my waste profile.