At a time when it was difficult to find anything progressive in a state still smarting from self-mutilations of the 1960s, a University of Alabama professor launched a world-class recycling program.
Founded in 1977 by Gary April, head of UA’s chemical engineering department, Project R.O.S.E. established in our community a volunteer oil-recycling program that emerged as a model for every state in the nation and 12 foreign countries.
The fact that it is still going strong today is as much a tribute to the vision of its founder as to the effectiveness of its educational component.
Project R.O.S.E. – the initials stand for Recycled Oil Saves Energy – today has spread to more than 500 statewide volunteer collection sites for used oil. Instead of disposing of their waste in ways that harm the environment, do-it-yourself oil changers now bring it to a R.O.S.E. site, where it’s collected for recycling.
On an annual basis, the program nets more that 8 million gallons of used motor oil that otherwise might have gone into storm sewers, living streams, landfills or yards.
Much remains to be done. Sheri Powell, project coordinator for R.O.S.E. for the last decade, estimates that at least 4 million gallons of used oil are still being disposed of improperly in Alabama.
Even so, the project is encouraging, and the sustained success of Tuscaloosa’s homegrown recycling program is remarkable, for it has grown, in the words of the beloved old Southern lullaby, mighty like a rose.