COEUR d'ALENE - Kids attending science camp this week at Ramsey Magnet School learned Tuesday that the county's waste management facility on Ramsey Road is called a transfer station for good reason.

"It's a hub. The whole objective was to help students really grasp that much of our waste really isn't waste, and not all of it goes to the landfill," said Lake City High School science teacher Jamie Esler. "I think it's good for them to understand that that's not the end of the line."

The 45 young campers, in grades two through five, toured the transfer station Tuesday as part of a lesson plan designed by Esler.

Kids attending the camp, held for the first time this year, study a different natural science each day. Tuesday's topic was environmental studies.

Transfer station manager Doug Goodwin led the students from the haz mat area to the methane burning station and into the trash dump area. They learned how the station collects different types of paper, tin cans, aluminum cans, batteries, televisions, computers, lawn mowers and barbecue grills so they can be recycled or re-used.

Goodwin pointed to the trailers that get filled with everything else and hauled to the landfill, 13 miles south near Fighting Creek. "On a busy day we'll load 25 of these," Goodwin said.

One curious camper, Landen Vergeer, asked Goodwin: "When were dumps invented?"

"Oh, probably around the time of the caveman," Goodwin said.

Someone's always had something to throw away.

Ray Tekverk, another Lake City science teacher on the transfer station tour, told the youngsters that archeologists often look for old dumps.

"Find the dump and you find the history of the people," Tekverk said.

The kids learned from Goodwin that when the landfill near Fighting Creek opened in 1993, it was predicted that it would be full in 2021. Now, because of expansion and recycling and re-use efforts, the timeline has changed to about 2039.

"It could be longer with more recycling," Goodwin said.

The waste stream headed for the landfill has already been reduced by roughly 40 percent, he said.

Ramsey principal Anna Wilson said the purpose of the science camp is two-fold. "We wanted to provide a fun, educational experience for kids," Wilson said. "We also wanted to provide some professional development for our teachers."

Ramsey just completed its first official year as a magnet school for science. Under the magnet school format, the curriculum at Ramsey is centered around science lessons.

"We thought, 'How can we get more science to the kids, in a way that's also beneficial to the teachers?'" Wilson said.

The camp was the answer. It creates a setting where elementary school teachers are learning from Lake City High School science teachers who are helping with the camp.

Lisa Hoffman, a teacher at Ramsey Elementary and director of the summer camp, said the lessons the kids learn will enhance their classroom learning experiences in the future.

Kids were looking forward to the science camp before the school year ended.

"They were pretty stoked," Hoffman said. "It makes you aware of how interested they are in everything around them."