Needed for the demonstration:

• 2-liter plastic beverage bottle
• 1 standard party balloon
• ½ cup of raw ground beef
• 2 lettuce leaves, torn into small pieces
• 2 tbsp. sand, such as playground or landscaping sand
• 2 tbsp. water
• small length of string of any type, to tie around the bottle opening
• 3-4 inches of duct tape, to secure balloon around bottle opening

For the activity, each group needs:

• 2-liter plastic beverage bottle
• 1 tennis ball-sized mound of modeling clay; enough to line the inside of the top half of the 2-liter bottle
• 3 cups of soil
• ¾ cup water
• ½ sheet of paper, torn into small pieces; tip: use recycled paper from Activity 1 or newspaper
• 2 lettuce leaves, torn into small pieces
• 1 apple, sliced/diced into small pieces
• 2-3 plastic food containers, cut into small pieces about ½ inch square; tip: use empty butter or yogurt containers
• 8 pairs of rubber or latex gloves, 2 pair per student
• 2 spoons or popsicle sticks
• set of measuring cups, specifically, 1 cup, ½ cup and ¼ cup sizes
• 4 inches of masking tape, for labeling landfills