Ni

Investigating the Rate of Compost Decomposition when Infused

with Different Colored Dyes
Victoria Schmidt-Silva

MATERIALS AND METHODS

BACKGROUND RESULTS
Materials
• Every day, people eat foods with dyes added into them. -Syringe(s)
Whether they are added to make food more appealing or for -Scale
taste, they are present in most foods. With all these type of -Plastic Bin
-Food Dye
foods being eaten every day, just as much is thrown away,
-Celery
leading to more and more waste being added to already
-Orange
crowded landfills; however, this creates a question, could these
-Bananas
dyes used in foods, potentially be slowing down or altering Method(s)
their decomposition rates? According to Lawrence (2009), 1. After purchasing the supplies, each fruit was weighed (banana, orange, and celery) and then recorded.
when heating a mixture of food color, sucrose, and glucose at 2. Next, each bin was weighed individually, then weighed with 10 cups of soil added into the bin.
several different temperatures, "Amaranth (128 μg/g), sunset 3. Before adding the fruits into the bins, each fruit had1.2 ml (1/4 tsp.) of dye injected into it. After each dye color
yellow FCF (113 μg/g) and tartrazine (116 μg/g) were found to (green, red, blue, and no dye) was added, they were placed into a specific bucket determined by dye color.
decompose by up to 25%, 10% and 22% respectively over a 4. Every other day, the buckets would be weighed and then have its mass recorded and have 10 pumps of water Red Green
Blue
Red None
temperature range of 120–162°C. The decomposition increased sprayed into each bin, as well as having a picture taken of each bin every month.

with increasing temperature (Lancaster & Lawrence, 2009, p.

Key-
295-303). Based on this, it could be believed that dyes can alter
= Banana
the rate (and process) of decomposition in foods.
= Orange
= Celery CONCLUSIONS

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Red Blue Green None

• Based on the data recorded, the findings support the hypothesis. It can be seen that each
.Food Mass Before Dyes Bin Mass bin had a difference in both the time it took to decompose as well as the physical
Red Blue Green None Without Soil With 10 cups of soil appearance and attributes of the fruits. When the data is compared, there is a noticeable
The goal of the experiment is to determine if dyes affect Orange 144.0 g 138.9 g 136.1 g 141.7 g Red 229.6 g 381.2 g difference in the rate of decompositions depending on the dye added, most notably the
the decomposition rate (the speed at which the changes between green, red and the none-dyed fruits. The most notable was the sudden
Green 226.8 g 376.5 g change that had occurred during the experiment was found mostly in the oranges, as the
decomposition process occurs) in foods, and if so, which Celery 49.6 g 48.2 g 49.3 g 47.9 g
green dyed celery and red dyed celery showed a small, but not great change, when
dye(s)? The hypothesis is that dyes do affect the Blue 229.6 g 371.9 g
compared to the oranges. The most notable being, the sudden change in color in the
Banana 187.1 g 178.6 g 178.6 g 181.4 g
decomposition rates of foods, by prolonging the None 229.6 g 362.9 g
orange with green dye injected into it. During a weekend when data was not being
recorded, the orange in the green bin had begun turning green and after another week had
decomposition process, mainly dyes that are darker in Foods mass before 1.2 ml of dye was injected Bin weights before and after soil was added
passed, the orange was no longer orange, but rather green. In contrast to this, the non-
color. Total Mass BEFORE Experiment dyed orange decomposed normally as did the blue dyed orange.
Red Blue Green None • After analyzing the data recorded, it can be concluded that the dyes with the slowest
Fruit 380.7 g 365.7 g 364.0 g 371.0 g decomposition rate (loss in mass) would be the red dye bin, as it only lost 10 grams in the
- Independent Variable: Food dyes
final week, while the fastest decomposition rate would be the blue dye, which lost 20
Bucket 229.6 g 229.6 g 226.8 g 229.6 g
- Dependent Variable: Decomposition rate grams over the span of two months. Both the green and no dye bins also lost 10 grams,
Soil 381. 2 g 371.9 g 376.5 g 362.9 g
- Control: Natural/ non-dyed food items which occurred during the first week.
TOTAL 0.98 kg 0.98 kg 0.97 kg 0.96 kg
• After performing this experiment, I plan to use the data and information collected to try
to find a possible way to accelerate the decomposition rate of food dyes, while still
maintaining its bright and vibrant colors.
Mass of bins over 2 months Mass of bins over 2 months Mass of bins over 2 months Mass of bins over 2 months
Red Blue Green None Red Blue Green None Red Blue Green None Red​ Blue​ Green None​ REFERENCES
10/19 0.98 kg 0.97 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg 11/2 0.98 kg 0.96 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg
10/9 0.98 kg 0.98 kg 0.97 kg 0.96 kg.
11/16 0.97 kg 0.96 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg
10/21 0.98 kg 0.97 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg 11/4 0.98 kg 0.96 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg
Lancaster, F. E., & Lawrence, J. F. (2009, January 10). Thermal decomposition
10/12 0.98 kg 0.98 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg
10/23 0.98 kg 0.97 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg 11/6 0.98 kg 0.96 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg of the food colors amaranth, sunset yellow FCF and tartrazine in the presence of
11/18 0.97 kg 0.96 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg
sucrose and glucose. Retrieved September 09, 2020, from
10/14 0.98 kg 0.98 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg 10/26 0.98 kg 0.97 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg 11/9 0.98 kg 0.96 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02652038609373596
10/28 0.98 kg 0.96 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg 11/11 0.98 kg 0.96 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg 11/20 0.97 kg 0.96 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg
10/16 0.98kg 0.97 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg
10/30 0.98 kg 0.96 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg 11/13 0.98 kg 0.96 kg 0.96 kg 0.95 kg
l
Blue lost once ounce, while the other bins stayed the same. There were no other notable changes.