U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson today presented the 2009 President’s Environmental Youth Awards to students from around the country for their outstanding contributions in helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality and protect America’s waters. The awards were presented during a ceremony in Washington D.C.
Here is the list of winners from the EPA:
EPA Region 1
Project T.G.I.F.: Turn Grease Into Fuel
Westerly Innovations Network/Westerly Middle School
Westerly, Rhode Island
This group of middle school students, who are passionate about community service, decided to do their part in tackling global warming by creating a sustainable project to collect the town’s waste cooking oil, refine it into biofuel, and then distribute it.
The students presented their project to the local town council and convinced them to place a grease receptacle at the town’s transfer station to collect waste cooking oil from residents. The group also convinced 64 local restaurants to donate their waste cooking oil, which is a by-product of fried food. To collect the waste oil from restaurants and the transfer station, the students collaborated with a local company to collect the waste oil and bring it to a biodiesel refinery where waste cooking oil is recycled into biofuel. Funds received from the refinery for the recycling of the waste oil were used to purchase Bioheat®, a biofuel, from a local distributor to give to local charities.
This project has been, and continues to be, a success for the environment and local families in need of heating assistance. To date, this project has collected over 36,000 gallons of waste oil and produced 30,000 gallons of biofuel a year, which eliminated 600,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere. The students have donated 4,000 gallons of Bioheat® to local charities and helped 40 families with emergency heating assistance.
Another important part of the project is educating school children and local residents about energy alternatives. The students have made numerous presentations to the local elementary school and local residents to encourage them to participate in the T.G.I.F. project and to teach them about alternative energy sources, the town’s recycling program, and global warming.