The Marion Times Standard September 24, 2003

Project ROSE helps environment

Recycling Centers now available in Marion

By Lorrie E. Rinehart

Ever wonder what to do with your used motor oil? Did you know that used motor oil never wears out, it only gets dirty? It can be cleaned and recycled. Recycling your used motor oil is much better that wondering what to do with it, or worse than discarding of it improperly.

Members of Project R.O.S.E. (Recycled Oil Saves Energy) have recently established two locations in Marion for individuals to talk their used motor oil. Both Osborn’s Chevron on Washington Street and the Perry County Solid Waste office located on Highway 5 are now serving as used motor oil collection sites. Robbie’s Performance Tires on Highway 80 in Uniontown serves as a collection site for Uniontown residents.

Individuals may take used motor oil to Osborn’s Chevron Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to noon. Interested parties may call the Perry County Solid Waste office at 334-683-8317 for more information on their hours. In Uniontown, Robbie’s Performance Tires is open Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to noon.

Project R.O.S.E. has served as the used motor oil education outreach program for the state of Alabama since 1977. The project is funded by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.

Project R.O.S.E. has been working with the Lower Cahaba Clean Water Partnership to increase awareness of harmful effects caused by the improper disposal of used motor oil.

Project R.O.S.E. information offers environmental tips, such as investing in an appropriate container to have on hand each time you change your motor oil to carry the oil to the collection site. It is stated that, no other solvents are to be mixed with the used motor oil to be taken for recycling.

It is important to collect and recycle used motor oil to keep it out of rivers, lakes, streams, and ground water. In many cases that means keeping it out of our drinking water, off our beaches, and away from wildlife.

According to Project R.O.S.E., recycling the motor oil from one oil change protects a million gallons of drinking water from contamination—or a year’s supply of water for 50 people. Americans throw away enough used motor oil every year to fill 120 supertankers.

Among its many uses, used motor oil can be reprocessed into fuel that can heat a home in the winter and cool it in the summer. It can be used in furnaces for hear, or in power plants to generate electricity for homes, schools, and businesses. Processed motor oil can be used in industrial burners, mixed with asphalt for paving roads, or blended for marine fuels.

For more information, visit the Project R.O.S.E. website at www.eng.ua.edu/~prose, or by calling 1-800-CLEANUP.

Charlotte H. Nix, (left) assistant coordinator for Project R.O.S.E., presents the Rose logo to Mike and Judy Osborn of Osburn’s Chevron in Marion. Larry Hardy, district conservationalist NRCS for Bibb and Perry Counties helped to coordinate the local site projects.