I think the Evo brand from Walmart will decompose the most because its packaging advertises it as the most eco-friendly spoons you will find. In contrast, the Kirkland brand from Costco and the President's Choice brand from The Canadian Superstore say they are eco-friendly but they do not emphasize it as much as the Evo brand from Walmart did. I think that that President’s Choice will decompose a little more than the Kirkland brand because it still talks about how it is extremely biodegradable but not as much as the Evo brand but more than the Kirkland brand. Another reason I think that the Evo brand will decompose and lose the most mass out of all the brands is because it has a thick mineral coating and the fact that the wood under the coating is plain natural birch wood I think this will make it easier for mold, bacteria and fungi to form.

History of Spoons

Spoons have been around for a long time, but they date back to 1000 BC and were invented by the Ancient Egyptians who came up with the idea of a spoon and after thousands of years they are still being used by humans like us. The Egyptians did not have metal spoons like most of us they made spoons out of flint, wood, and ivory. They used wooden spoons, this makes the difference between us and the Egyptians very little because now in our current time, we are using wooden spoons to replace single-use plastic ones.

The ban on single-use plastic

Back in June of 2022, the federal government worked together to publish the single-use plastics prohibition regulations, which stopped the manufacturing of single-use plastics. This transition to stop single-use plastics led to wooden utensils being made to replace plastic counterparts because they decompose a lot faster than plastic.

Why were plastic spoons banned in Alberta?

At one point in time, I bet you have used plastic spoons and thrown them out into the garbage without a second thought, well what if I were to tell you that what you just did harm the environment? Because plastic spoons are so small for recycling they are sent to landfills where they can take hundreds of thousands of years to decompose meaning they stay there for a long time and slowly pile up and takes up a lot of space. That's not all because while the spoons are decomposing for a long period they also release greenhouse gasses. Some other ways plastic spoons harm the environment is when they enter waterways and can harm aquatic life in ponds rivers and even oceans.

Research on the spoons I am testing.

In my experiment, I am testing three different spoon brands including the Kirkland brand from Costco, the Evo brand from Walmart, and the President’s Choice brand from The Canadian Superstore. After researching I was able to determine that the Kirkland brand is cornstarch-based with a weak mineral coating, the Evo brand is just plain birch wood with a thick mineral coating, and lastly, the President’s Choice brand was wheat-based with a mineral coating on top.

Factors that affect decomposition

Many factors can affect decomposition like temperature, temperature affects decomposition because it controls the growth and activity of the microorganisms. Moisture also affects decomposition because the water in the soil is responsible for the processes of microorganisms present in the soil. The soil's pH is another major factor in decomposition because it affects microbial growth. Microbial growth is the increase in the number of microbes.

      Constant/Controlled variables

• The type of soil I use (promix premium potting mix), the location I put the spoons in soil, the pot/cup they are put in, and the scale used to measure the spoon's mass will be constant variables because they stay the same while I do my experiment.

      Uncontrolled variables

• The temperature of the area where I put the spoons was not the same throughout. I did not control the amount of soil I added to the big red cup; I just added enough for the cups to be filled. I also did not control the size of the spoons because they were all almost the same size, but not the same. These are my uncontrolled variables because they were not controlled.

  Manipulative variables

• The Kirkland brand from Costco, the Evo brand from Walmart, and the President's Choice brand from The Canadian Superstore are my manipulated variables because they are what I am testing.

  Responding variables

• How much each spoon decomposes in the soil in a certain period (the mass it loses) is my responding variable because it is what I am getting from doing the experiment.

Materials

1. Pack of Promix Premium Potting Soil

2. Spoon brand Evo from Walmart

3. President's choice brand wooden spoons from the Canadian superstore

4. Kirkland brand wooden spoons from Costco

5.9 big red cups/pot

6 .scissors

8. water

9. Tool to measure water ( should measure at least 1 cup)

10. scale (that measures 0.01 grams)

11.(RECOMMENDED) Gloves

 

Procedure

1. Make sure you have the proper materials to do this experiment like the potting soil cups and the spoons.

2. You need to get nine big red cups and put labels on them, three should say the Evo brand from Walmart another 3 should say the Kirkland brand from Costco, and label the last 3 cups with the president's choice brand from The Canadian Superstore.

3. Next you must grab the promix premium potting mix and fill the big red cups so that it is filled to the very top do this for all 9 cups

4. Before you start to put the spoons in their respective cups you first must check how much each spoon is from each brand’s mass and record those findings in your logbook.

5. Then you will grab the Kirkland brand spoons from Costco and cut them into two pieces then insert the two pieces into the labeled cup that says “Kirkland brand from Costco” Make sure the two parts of the spoons are fully submerged do this for all the cups labeled with the Kirkland brand.

6. Next you will grab the President Choice brand spoons from The Canadian Superstore and cut them into two pieces then insert the two pieces into the labeled cup that says “President's Choice brand from The Canadian Superstore ” Make sure the two parts of the spoons is fully submerged do this for all the cups labeled with the presidents choice brand.

7. Next you will grab the Evo brand from Walmart and cut them into two pieces then insert the two pieces into the labeled cup that says “Evo brand from Walmart ” Make sure the two parts of the spoons are fully submerged do this for all the cups labeled with the evo brand.

8. After the spoons are added to the soil add 1 cup of water to each big red cup filled with soil

9. REMINDER TO ADD WATER ON THE 15th DAY AND ADD 1 CUP OF WATER

10. Put the nine red cups somewhere safe so the wooden spoons can decompose (I put mine in my garage), but then wait 30 days and check up on the wooden spoons.

11. After 30 days have passed, get the remains of each of the spoons out of the soil and keep them organized so they don't get misplaced.

12. After making sure to weigh each company's spoons because each company had 3 spoons that were being tested calculate the average mass of the spoons, Lastly you should note down the recordings of the experiment and the average in your logbook.*Make sure you rub all the dirt on the spoons off so the mass can be more accurate.

 

 

 

Observations (1)

 

After I put the spoons into the soil, I would check up on it every 5 days and note down the changes of the soil. On the 5th day after putting the spoons into the soil, I noticed that the soil was still moist after 5 days of it being in my garage.

Observations (2)

 

After 10 days, I saw that the soil was less moist and looked more black. This means that the soil was richer and healthier than before. Another important thing to mention is that I saw the Kirkland brand soil as more moist than the other brands, even after 10 days.

Observations (3)

 

On the 15th day of my experiment, I added 1 cup of water to each of the 9 cups with spoons in them. This made the soil moist again in all of the cups, as you can see in the image below

Observations (4)

 

On the 20th day, the soil looked almost the same as it did on the 15th day because it did not take in most of the water, but the soil seemed even more rich than it did on the 10th day.

Observations (5)

 

On the 25th day, I saw that the moisture in the soil for the Kirkland brand was still there, but the Evo brand's soil seemed to absorb the moisture because it was a lot drier, while the President's Choice brand was not entirely dry, but it was still a little moist.

 

Kirkland Brand (far left one)

 

Evo Brand (middle one)

 

President's Choice (far right one)

Observations (6)

 

On the 30th, there were practically no changes in the soil or its moisture except for the fact that the soil was now dry for all 9 cups. After removing the spoons, I was able to notice that the spoons had formed white mold in all different places.

 

President’s Choice brand   

 

Evo brand   

 

Kirkland brand  

 

Tables Of Data

Graphs

Analysis

To find out which spoon was the best, you have to subtract the new average that you got after the experiment and subtract it from the original average mass of the spoons before the experiment. 

Evo brand: 2.416-2.356=0.06 grams

Kirkland brand: 2.76-2.536= 0.224 grams

President’s Choice brand: 2.756-2.536=0.22 grams

As you can see from the calculations done above, the Kirkland brand lost the most mass in grams over the 30 days.

If you look at the graphs and the table of observations, you can see that the Kirkland brand lost the most mass, with the President’s Choice brand following it, and lastly,  the Evo brand lost the least amount of mass. The Kirkland brand lost 8.12% of its mass, the President's Choice brand lost 7.96% of its mass, and the Evo brand lost 2.48% of its mass. Even though the Kirkland brand might have decomposed more quickly because it was more biodegradable, it was cornstarch-based. That's not all because other things like the temperature could have affected the outcome of this experiment as temperature has a huge role in decomposition, and so could moisture levels and oxygen availability. After doing more research into why cornstarch is so biodegradable, it's because it's made from plant-based resources that can naturally break into things like carbon dioxide and water.

Everything in this experiment had different outcomes

The Evo brand's average mass after the experiment was 2.356 grams

The Kirkland brand's average mass after the experiment was 2.536 grams

The President’s Choice brand's average mass after the experiment was 2.66 grams

This means the Kirkland brand decomposed the most, the Presidents Choice brand decomposed a little less than it, and the Evo brand barely decomposed. This makes my hypothesis wrong because I thought that the Evo brand would decompose the most, but it decomposed the least compared to the other brands. The Kirkland brand spoons decomposed the most because it was corn starch-based, so it is extremely biodegradable. The reason the President's Choice brand decomposed more than the Evo brand was that it was a wheat-based wooden spoon, unlike the Evo spoon, which was plain wood with a mineral layer.

 

This experiment could be applied to real life because, as we all know, there was a ban on single-use plastics, which led to the introduction of wooden spoons and other utensils. So by testing these three wooden spoons from three big box retailers in our local area, we can determine the most eco-friendly brand out of all three that  I tested of wooden spoons for waste reduction, This can also help make buyers who want to be more eco-friendly make the right choice and buy more biodegradable items over the ones that are not as biodegradable.

 

• Even though the spoons were at the same temperature, the temperature was not consistent; it was constantly changing. This could have affected the results of my experiment because temperature plays a vital role in controlling the growth and activity of microorganisms during decomposition.

• The amount of soil I added to each cup was not going to be the same. I tried my best to keep it the same, but some cups had more soil than others, which could have affected my experiment results.

• Before I checked the mass of the spoons after the experiment, I rubbed the dirt I could off of the spoons, but there could have been a chance that some dirt stayed on the spoons and affected the results I got for my experiment.

• Placement of the spoons, Even though I tried to put the spoons in the same spot in each cup I most likely was not able to put them in the same spot I am not sure if this could have affected my result, but it might have.

• I also had experiment limitations on how much time I could put the spoons into the soil for them to decompose if I had more time to conduct my experiment I could have gotten more accurate results on how the spoon brand would decompose because the spoons would have more time to decompose making them lose more mass to get more accurate results for my experiment.

• I completely ignored the research I did on factors affecting decomposition as I did not try to accommodate them

Stewart, S. (2023, July 1). 411 on single-use plastics ban in Alberta — Alberta Hospitality Association. Alberta Hospitality Association. https://www.albertahospitalityassociation.ca/blog/single-use-plastics#:~:text=This%20approach%20seeks%20to%20transition,and%20out%20of%20the%20environment.

eam, E. E. C. (2024, October 22). The hidden environmental cost of plastic spoons explained - Emerald ecovations. Emerald Ecovations. https://emeraldecovations.com/2024/08/uncovering-the-environmental-impact-of-plastic-spoons/

erald Ecovations. (2024, August). Uncovering the environmental impact of plastic spoons. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from 

History of the spoon. (n.d.). AC Silver. https://www.acsilver.co.uk/shop/pc/History-of-the-Spoon-d302.htm#:~:text=Archaeological%20finds%20date%20the%20first,of%20wood%2C%20flint%20and%20ivor

How the rate of decay affects key factors - Decomposition  - AQA - GCSE Biology (Single Science) Revision - AQA - BBC Bitesize. (2023, March 30). BBC Bitesize. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zy7gw6f/revision/1#:~:text=At%20colder%20temperatures%20decomposing%20organisms,killed%20and%20decomposition%20will%20stop.

 

The Zero-Waste Materials Series — Cornstarch - Zero Waste. (2022, September 6). Zero Waste. https://www.zerowaste.com/blog/the-zero-waste-materials-series-cornstarch/

Admin. (2021, December 28). Decomposition - Process, factors affecting decomposition. BYJUS. https://byjus.com/biology/what-is-decomposition/

 

 

My acknowledgments are Parbhjeet Aulakh, the grade nine Teacher and also our science fair conductor. She has been a massive help with our science fair and guided us every step of the way. I would also like to take a moment to acknowledge my friends who helped me proofread and edit my work; they were extremely supportive. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge my family, as they are the ones who helped me settle on a good topic for this year's science fair.