The West Branch Science Club is composed of middle school students who are working to increase public awareness regarding the disposal of used oil filters in landfills and the environmental problems that can be caused by those filters and the residual oil. The students collect, compress and recycle used oil filters and attempt to identify lifestyle changes that can decrease the production of oil filter waste.

Recycling the used oil filters and the remaining oil trapped in the filters is necessary to prevent the needless contamination of our landfills. Hydraulic filter presses can be used to compress the filters and recover most of the leftover oil. According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR), more than 6.6 million oil filters are deposited in Iowa landfills every year. This wasteful practice introduces nearly 400,000 gallons of used oil into the system each year. Club members have discovered that they can extract around 88 percent of the residual oil. As a result, Iowa could prevent up to 351,000 gallons of oil from entering the state landfills every year.

Since 2002 members of the West Branch Science Club have been collecting and crushing filters. Service stations, car dealerships and automotive businesses bring their used filters to the school and pick up the pressed filters after they are crushed. This year the students have pressed 427 oil filters and have recovered and recycled 14 gallons of used oil. Project participants spend about 40 days after school working for about an hour each day.

The West Branch Science Club openly encourages other schools and communities to implement their model. The Filter Manufacturers Council reports that 85 percent of the used oil filters in the United States are discarded in landfills. This results in 17.9 million gallons of oil and 161,500 tons of steel being wasted every year. The steel alone would be enough to construct 16 new stadiums on the scale of Atlanta's Turner Stadium. Used oil is considered a hazardous waste and can create serious problems if it leaches into the groundwater. Motor oil contains varying concentrations of lead, cadmium, chromium, arsenic and barium, all of which are defined as toxic, hazardous waste by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Benzene, a known carcinogenic, can also be found in used oil as well. It is illegal to dispose of oil in water or on land and laws do exist that require the recycling of used oil. Unfortunately it is not illegal to dispose of used oil filters in landfills. A significant amount of oil, approximately 9 ounces, remains trapped in every discarded oil filter.

"Used Oil Filters – Hazard Awareness" has received several state and national awards. The project has received the Governor's Environmental Excellence Award and has received grants from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Toyota Tapestry. This project also was the 2003 national runner-up in the eCybermission national contest sponsored by the U.S. Army and won the EPA Regional VII National Excellence Award for a group project. In 2004 the students were honored by President George W. Bush in Washington, D.C. and received one of the President's Environmental Youth Awards.

"The Izaak Walton League is pleased to support the Used Oil Filters – Hazard Awareness project. The project exemplifies the League's idea of community-based conservation by engaging students, parents, local businesses and policy makers in significant behavioral change leading to conservation of natural resources. Students have exemplified real-world problem-solving and leadership while involving their community in conservation action and have brought a new level of awareness about the need to recycle oil and oil filters to state and local legislators. The Izaak Walton League is proud to be affiliated with the students who have shown through this exemplary project that they are such careful stewards of our natural resources."