Op-Ed — State Funding Eliminated for Successful Oil Recycling Program, Project R.O.S.E.

By Dr. Gary C. April, program director for Project R.O.S.E.

The latest casualty of the state’s financial shortfalls is the granddaddy of all do-it-yourself used oil recycling programs – Project R.O.S.E. (Recycled Oil Saves Energy). One of this nation’s oldest programs, Project R.O.S.E. was recently notified its state funding was being eliminated after Sept. 30. Strategic changes in direction for the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs’ (ADECA) Science, Technology and Energy Division was the stated reason for the cutback.

During the last two decades, Project R.O.S.E. affected, on average, the collection of nearly four-million gallons per year of do-it-yourself motor oil in Alabama. That’s 80-million gallons of used oil not put into Alabama’s environment, ground water, creeks, lakes, rivers and bays.

For more than 27 years, Project R.O.S.E. has educated the citizens of Alabama on the value of used oil recycling and on the ever important theme of the program – that one person indeed can make a difference in the quality of life for their family and community. Project R.O.S.E. has proven that education is the key to sustaining an oil recycling program.

Failing to educate citizens about proper disposal of used motor oil will adversely impact every major industry in Alabama from timber, catfish, automotive and farming to commercial and sport fishing, transportation and recreation. It took more than a quarter of a century for our citizens to realize they can indeed make a difference in protecting the environment and conserving our ever diminishing oil and gas resources – one quart at a time.

ADECA insists that Project R.O.S.E. is an excellent program; however, interest by the state agency to support other ways to attain energy efficiency within Alabama, and the reduction in their budget, made it necessary to divert Project R.O.S.E.’s annual funding to other efforts. Throughout the years, Project R.O.S.E. supplemented its state budget by coordinating the annual Run for the Roses 5K race, proceeds from which were used for oil collection tank placement in rural areas of Alabama. Since the inaugural race in 1997, more than 100 runners participate in the race annually and nearly 40 tanks have been placed throughout the state, as a result.

Last year Project R.O.S.E. celebrated the establishment of a used oil collection site in each of Alabama’s 67 counties. In 2003, the program’s staff impacted nearly one-half million Alabama citizens through participating as exhibitors or speakers at conferences, conducting workshops in schools and for Girl Scouts groups, giving radio and television interviews, and attending a host of other community environmental programs.

Project R.O.S.E. also presents a series of activities for Junior Girl Scouts (4th-6th grades) to earn their “Oil Up” badge. These education programs were beginning to make inroads toward educating the next generation of Alabama concerned citizens.

Used oil programs in other states are funded through their state budgets to address used oil collection, recycling, education, tank placement and liability issues. Several efforts were attempted by Project R.O.S.E. to receive State Oil Inspection Fee funds or revenue from proposed bills. Project R.O.S.E. annually competed for ADECA managed funds derived from the Department of Energy State Oil Overcharge Fund.

It has been bittersweet for me to watch as neighboring states mimicked our efforts but found ways to raise annual funds to develop, grow, and expand the fundamental Project R.O.S.E. model.

I am hoping to find someone who is willing to continue funding this program even if it means loss of identity of its registered trademark. The ideal situation would be for some group to recognize the hard work invested in the program and continue the energy conservation/environmental preservation program as it is presently constituted.

What happens if no one steps forward to keep this program going? Only time will tell if used oil in Alabama will once again be discarded on Alabama The Beautiful. The state savings for making Project R.O.S.E. disappear is less than two cents per citizen per year. Is that a prudent decision on behalf of Alabama’s citizens? You be the judge.

Dr. Gary C. April founded Project R.O.S.E. in 1977 and serves as its director and is head of the chemical and biological engineering department at The University of Alabama. For more information, contact April at 205/348-1734 or gcapril@coe.eng.ua.edu.