Over 25 litres of used cooking oil collected for recycling
MIRI: More than 25 litres of used cooking oil were collected at SMK Lopeng Tengah here yesterday as part of a project by Lopeng Eco Rangers ( LER).
The activity, which was conducted at the bus stop in front of the secondary school, had attracted more than 20 students who brought used cooking oil from home for the project.
According to coordinating teacher Ting Ding Leong, the collected oil, after it has reached a certain amount, will be picked up by an oil recycling company before being sent overseas for further processing and turned into usable products like biodiesel, cosmetics, candles and soaps.
“We can see that our project which has been going on for a long time, has successfully achieved our objective, which is to educate the younger people in the community to help reduce the dumping of waste on land and into water,” Ting told The Borneo Post yesterday.
The oil collection project, which was initiated a few years ago by the same team previously known as Lopeng Eco Youth, is now reaching out to the community.
“The LER, which is one of the 12 selected schools nationwide in the national- level Toyota Eco Youth competition taking place from February to October this year, has been working on the project to reduce carbon footprints.”
Ting said that when parents accompanied their children to send used cooking oil to the collection station, the LER took the opportunity to brief them on the importance of reducing electricity and water wastage.
“All these activities are related to the competition, to achieve the purpose of the competition,” Ting said.
This week, he revealed, LER will sign a memorandum of understanding ( MoU) with the Department of Environment ( DOE) and BEM On The Rock.
“By sealing the MoU with DOE, the latter will hold talks at SMK Lopeng Tengah here that relate to environmental awareness.”
Meanwhile, Ting added that with the MoU, BEM On The Rock has pledged to pursue power and water- saving methods that indirectly contribute to saving the Earth.
The LER team is also in the midst of producing several short video clips to be uploaded on mainstream media and social media channels, that could easily catch the attention of the public and promote the environmental awareness campaign.
“The team has been working extremely hard to achieve the goal of the project. It is also a great way to encourage them to become creative, innovative and to think independently,” said Ting.