Landfill is learning experience for Chino school

The 4th graders of Briggs Fundamental School in Chino Participated in an educational tour of Waste Management's El Sobrante Landfill last week to elarn about waste management and the importance of recycling.

"The environment is in all subjects, including Math, Scoence, Social Studies, Art and many other subjects and couple it with hands-on outdoor classroom learning, like our tour of the El Sobrante Landfill, really solidifies the lessons taught in the classroom," said Luz Conner, 4th grade teacher at Briggs Fundamental School.

Since 2000, Waste Management's El Sobrante Landfill has been providing to local schools an outdoor education program that gives students, scouts and the community at large hands-on experience about waste, recycling and environmental stewardship. The goal of the program is to increase the public's understanding of the critical services and infrastructure the company provides to protect the health and safety of the community and the environment.

"It's important for kids to know what happens to trash, and there's no better way to learn than to take a tour of our facility," said Damon De Frates, district manager for El Sobrante Landfill. "We hope they come away from their tour with a deeper understanding about their role in keeping their environment clean."

"Schools are the perfect place to instill the value of natural resources and the importance of minimizing waste. Tours to El Sobrante Landfill provide learning opportunities that can produce life-long recyclers and future environmental leaders," said Mike Harrell, principal at Briggs Fundamental School. "Younger students often carry messages home to their parents and may motivate the entire family to recycle and protect our environment."

To accommodate the entire fourth grade class, the tours took place last Monday, Tuesday and Friday. El Sobrante Landfill is located at 10910 Dawson Canyon Rd. Corona, CA 92883