One Cooperative Extension agent recently decided to do to something about it.

(Above: Tom Hoggle, third from left, President of the Upper Tallapoosa Watershed Committee, presents Woodland High School Principal Ricky Murphy with a $650 check for his school's success in collecting the largest amount of used motor oil in Randolph County.  Also pictured, left to right: Susan Baldwin, Randolph County Soil and Water Conservation District; Ron Dewberry, Alabama Power; Stan Roark, Randolph County Extension agent; and Sheri Powell, state coordinator of Project Rose.)

After attending a statewide Project Rose meeting last summer in Columbiana, Stan Roark, a Randolph County Extension agent, decided young people needed to be alerted to the environmental hazards associated with the improper disposal of used motor oil. Operated by the University of Alabama, Project Rose is a statewide effort to sponsor used oil recycling education and to develop programs alerting Alabamians about the serious environmental risks associated with used motor oil.

Studies have shown 1 gallon of motor oil has the potential to contaminate up to 1 million gallons of freshwater – all the more reason, Roark believes, why young Alabamians should be educated about this problem.

"Sometimes we have these big environmental problems, and we ask, ‘What can we do?’" Roark says. "This just struck me as a very creative way to do something about the environment rather than just talking about it."

Roark, along with fellow agent Chris Hardin, first pitched the idea of an oil recycling program to the Upper Tallapoosa Watershed Committee.

The response, as he recalls, was "tremendous."

With support from Project Rose, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, the Upper Tallapoosa Watershed Committee, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Alabama Power and Walmart, Roark organized a countywide competition among local school students, offering financial rewards to schools collecting the most used oil.

With help from Missy Middlebrooks of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management who tailored educational materials to meet local needs, Roark and Hardin met with 1200 4-H members and presented coursework about oil recycling.

Funding provided by Project Rose also enabled members of the Upper Tallapoosa Watershed Committee to establish collection sites at eight automotive shops in Roanoke, Wedowee, Wadley and Woodland.

In the course of the competition, participating schools collected more than 760 gallons of used oil, potentially safeguarding more than 760 million gallons of fresh water.

Woodland High School, which collected 399 gallons, won the contest.

Organizers say the effort already is being used as a model in other counties to alert people about the importance of oil recycling.

"One reason we like working with Extension agents is because they know people in their county like the back of their hands," she adds. "They know people and how things work in their county, and that makes it so much easier for Project Rose to come and set up a recycling program."

"I’d love to see more people around the state learn about Stan’s efforts with Project Rose so that we could get every county involved in setting up collection sites," says Sheri Powell, state coordinator for Project Rose.

"Every drop of recycled motor oil is saving water and preventing property damage. Most people don’t consider oil as part of the recycling circle, but it certainly is, and we need to let them know how important it is to recycle every drop that they can."