Preventing contamination by recycling used cooking oil is the aim of a University of Sao Paulo project, run by the clean technology lab, Ladetel, in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil's sugar cane capital. “Each liter of used oil that is thrown out can contaminate 10,000 liters of water,” chemist Vinicius Sellani, a coordinator of the project that collects used cooking oil from schools and restaurants, told Tierramérica.

The students bring the oil from their homes to the school and receive instruction about contamination and biofuels, including a fieldtrip to the Ladetel plant. The project already involves the neighboring cities and many distant towns are expressing interest in similar projects.