Bridgeport Students To Tour Waste-to-Energy Plant; 7th & 8th Graders Will Compete in National Environmental Symposium.

Business/Education/Environment Editors

BRIDGEPORT, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 11, 2002

Fifteen students from John Winthrop Elementary in North Bridgeport will get a first-hand look at a large-scale commercial environmental operation on Friday, April 12th, when they visit the Wheelabrator Waste-to-Energy facility on Howard Avenue. The tour, beginning at 10:00 AM, will expose the young environmentalists to all aspects of the plant's state-of-the-art thermal process, in which up to 2,250 tons of municipal trash from 850,000 residents of Bridgeport and surrounding communities are converted into clean electricity each day.

The students will use the experience to broaden their understanding of environmental management and to better their chances to be selected to travel to Sturbridge, Mass. in May to compete in the Wheelabrator Technologies Environmental Education Symposium. The Symposium is an annual forum in which elementary school students from across the country tackle tough local environmental issues as they apply valuable experiential learning and develop practical and creative solutions. The student teams present these solutions to a panel, which consists of Symposium educators, scientists and civic leaders. The panel evaluates the projects for quality of team effort, research and organization, scientific credibility and practical application.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Wheelabrator-sponsored event, founded by the Company to help promote the popularity of environmental science, engineering, municipal planning and critical environmental thinking in early education. Last year, Wheelabrator hosted 11 schools and involved nearly 200 seventh and eighth-grade students during the school year. Hundreds of students from dozens of schools across America have participated in the Symposium since 1992.

Bridgeport's John Winthrop students have installed a working greenhouse on school grounds designed to advance environmental education in public schools. The greenhouse will sustain plants indigenous to the southern Connecticut region to raise awareness of these species and disperse information about the state's unique environmental habitats. The school's Tech Club helped construct the greenhouse, while lower grades at John Winthrop have planned to coordinate science learning units about seeds and plants in preparation for taking over the management of the greenhouse in later years.

Susan Beres, a 7th grade science teacher at the school, oversees the team's efforts as they develop the greenhouse project and lead her students on the tour of the Bridgeport waste-to-energy plant on Friday. "By educating our community about its environment," she says, "we feel that we will have done a small yet important service to residents of the Bridgeport area." Under Ms. Beres's guidance, the students have solicited local businesses, which include nurseries, for materials, donations and information.

Wheelabrator Bridgeport Plant Manager Chris Carey is an enthusiastic supporter of the school and the Symposium. "We're very proud of these kids," he said. "Any time that students can answer a real-world challenge or have the chance to solve a practical problem or provide useful scientific information is a chance for all of us to learn. Wheelabrator is pleased to sponsor this program and to help students at any level gain a better understanding how to effectively protect and manage our environment."

Wheelabrator Technologies Inc., based in Hampton, New Hampshire, is an environmental services and technologies company that owns and/or operates 16 waste-to-energy facilities and 8 small independent power plants throughout the country. The Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Waste Management, Inc., provides clean electric power and steam by reclaiming renewable waste fuels. Wheelabrator facilities convert more than 23,000 tons of municipal trash per day into enough electricity for 500,000 homes year round.

John Winthrop Elementary School Tour

Friday, April 12, 2002

10:00 AM - 1:30 PM

Wheelabrator Bridgeport, L.P.

6 Howard Avenue

Bridgeport, Connecticut 06605

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