We are the Styro-Terminators. We are a group of eight determined seventh grade girls our school's STEAM program called Project Reservoir. Project Reservoir is a STEAM program that allows children of our age who share the same interests to work and learn about the world then share what we know with others. Our main interest: making a difference in our world. What our team does is take chunks of styrofoam , and experiment with it. We use “superworms” (which are also known as the larvae of a darkling beetle) to reduce the amount of styrofoam in our classroom. We also use littered styrofoam to do this. Over time, the larvae consumes the styrofoam and it turns into waste, which takes up much less space than the styrofoam. We record how long it takes for the superworms to fully digest the styrofoam assigned and we take notes on the larva's behavior throughout this process. Our team puts the larvae in separate glass containers , all except for Beaker G, which has 13 worms of all different sizes, imitating their natural habitat. Others have 1 or 2 worms. Together we try and figure out (based on our data) how to speed up the process, why the styrofoam attracts only the beetle’s larvae (but not the beetle itself), if we can get the beetles to eat the styrofoam, and if we can replicate what it is exactly that the larvae are attracted to and make more of it. With the help of our “superworms” , our styrofoam, and our equipment we will discover the answers to all our questions on this topic.
Styro-Terminators
Briana Zapet, Giovanna Tejada, Sajoud Saleh, Michaela Garrett, Kayla Allen, Jennifer Hoffer,
Juver Nuesi, Layla Sanchez
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What is the problem?
There are many problems with styrofoam colliding with the environment. Many things can be recycled, paper, cardboard, plastic, aluminum etcetera. However, we aren’t able to recycle styrofoam. This becomes a problem in the world because animals in the ocean and animals on land will unknowingly ingest styrofoam, in turn having fatal consequences. Such as changing the balance and order of that environment. You can’t recycle styrofoam and it has to go somewhere, usually in the trash or it’s polluted. For companies with styrofoam coming in bulk, illegal dumping landfills would be the place where it ends up. Although there are partnerships and other companies working towards reusing styrofoam over time, most of them have died out due to loss of interest or not enough sponsors, we believe there could be an easier, less costly solution to this unavoidable problem. We are concerned for our Earth’s future and how we will affect it. Waste already takes up so much space on Earth, styrofoam only intensifies that concern. Which is why we have decided to act upon this concern; to become the Styro-Terminators where we will hopefully be able to put an end to this. Another one of our concerns is air pollution. When in the process of being manufactured, styrofoam releases chemical byproducts into the air. In a study made by The National Bureau of Standards Center for Fire Research found 57 chemical byproducts released during the production of styrofoam. The manufacturers also use HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons) which negatively influences the ozone layer in the atmosphere and also contributes to climate change.
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PROJECT RESERVOIR'S
About Us
PROJECTS
STYRO-BIN
STYRO BIO-DIGESTER
Within our school, we created a donation system where we allowed people to donate Styrofoam. Styrofoam coffee cups, egg cartons, party cups, anything and everything made of Styrofoam was excepted as a donation towards our experiments. First we got trashcans. We put flyers around the school as well as one on the trash can and made an announcement on our school's load speaker notifying students,teachers, and staff to throw whatever Styrofoam they had into a local styro-can. We found most Styrofoam donations were of coffee cups. More specifically Styrofoam coffee cups from Dunkin' Donuts. We then turned that into the Dunkin' Donuts coffee cup experiment where we tested if the larva preferred the Styrofoam in pieces and exposed or whole and buried in the wood chips. We found that the larva preferred it being whole and buried, and the hydration coming from wet wood chips. Seeing that we finished that experiment we are currently trying to start a test on our 2nd most popular find, the egg carton. We also plan to extend the styro-bins to nearby schools (located in Jersey City NJ)such as , Jotham W. Wakeman Public School (PS#6),Charles E. Trefurt Elementary School (PS#8), Nicolas Copernicus School (PS#25) and Patricia M. Noonan Elementary school (PS#26).
We are creating a Bio-digester that keeps the water inside of it to damp the styrofoam so the larva can consume it. We are inserting a heater within in order to warm it. The bio-digester will break the styrofoam down in order for the larva to eat. We in-closed the water using a trash bag, and the water condensates and dripping back onto the styrofoam keeping it yet.
