The county's west side road department recently received a container to collect used motor oil.
The 500-gallon tank was donated by Project R.O.S.E. (Recycled Oil Saves Energy), an educational and public outreach program to collect motor oil sponsored by the University of Alabama.
"We want to be good stewards and good neighbors," West Side Road Commissioner Robert Harbison said of having the container available for public use. "The less oil that get in the soil and eventually gets in the watertable the better off we'll be."
Sheri Powell, project coordinator, said two million Alabamians change their own oil.
"It's very important to catch this resource," she said, both to recycle it and to keep it from getting into the soil.
Edwin Calvert, director of the Smith Lake Environmental Preservation Committee, said his group's main objective is to preserve the quality of the water.
"I think [getting the tank] is great because petroleum products is one of the quickest ways to degrade water," he said. The road department is located just off of County Road 222 in Trimble near Smith Lake.
Mike Roden, executive coordinator of
Tennessee Valley Resource Conservation
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How to use the oil collection tank- Where it's located: The tank is at the county gas pump at the west side road department on County Road 438 in Trimble.
- When to use: Oil can be deposited in the tank during the operating hours Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
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and Development, said he's glad to see the county take a leadership role in having a tank available.
"A gallon of oil could impact a great deal of this lake," he said.
Roden would like to see Project R.O.S.E. have an oil collection tank available for county fairs this fall which could be transported across north Alabama to each fair site.
Powell said several collection tanks are available in Cullman including Wal-Mart, Texaco Express, Advance Auto Parts, Auto Zone and Express Oil Change.
Collection sites nationwide can be accessed by phone at 1-800-CLEANUP or online at http://www.1800cleanup.org.
Harbison said the tank will be available to the public to deposit used motor oil during the road department's operating hours from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays.
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