Meet the girl who has changed a whole lot of lives with something we would just throw away.

What do you do with your cooking oil after you use it? What does your favorite restaurant do with its used oil? Here’s a young woman who saw that oily resource being wasted and decided to do something awesome about it.

New England winters can be harsh, especially for those who can’t afford to heat their homes.

When she was in fifth grade Cassandra Lin learned that used cooking oil could be converted into cheap, clean-burning bio-diesel to heat homes. The same year, 2008, Lin founded Turn Grease Into Fuel (TGIF), a youth group that gets local restaurants to donate their kitchen grease to be recycled and shared with charities that identify families who need heating assistance.

So far, Lin’s outfit has helped offset more than 2 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions by promoting the use of biodiesel. In 2011, Lin and her team drafted a bill that required all businesses in Rhode Island to recycle their waste cooking oil and worked with local legislators to get it approved. State lawmakers passed the Used Cooking Oil Recycling Act in June 2011 and the law went into effect in January 2012, expanding TGIF’s efforts into neighboring communities.

The network of local businesses and charities that Lin and her team created is itself a well-oiled machine that addresses the needs of community members and reduces waste and pollution.

Cassandra Lin, 2013 Brower Youth Award Winner

Transcript of the video
0:08and
0:12I think the young people have such an important role and
0:16youth leadership and leadership in general because adults
0:19often overlook our boys and I we have a voice young people everywhere should
0:23make their voices heard because we’re the now generation
0:26my name’s Chris and Helen and 15 atmosphere and
0:30& Co patter product TGIF trendy
0:33individual I think that growing up in this and definitely impact and I and
0:37managing conscious because do is live
0:39natural beauty where their in 2005 my brother started this project called
0:44recycle and reuse Rd ways
0:45he and his team would get like calls computers
0:49and refurbish them and give them to like kids who didn’t have access
0:53just getting so I remember like I always like be cleaning out the keyboard
0:56staffing now as well product TGIF as a sustainable system that collects
1:01used cooking oil Natasha residents has a converted into environmentally friendly
1:06powerful
1:07new stuff i’ll feel to heat their homes up financially stressed and we lost how
1:12did he react by first lobbying are
1:14local town council and ask them to place our stuff to go at the transfer stations
1:18residents can recycle the oil that
1:20and they agreed that was a good huge stack cuz before I don’t think there’s
1:24any
1:25public place where residents around go to my buddies
1:28clown then missed are targeting commercial with my outgoing
1:32visiting restaurants one by one I don’t have the doors asking for the owner and
1:36manager
1:36someone to talk to treatment like to donate program and another
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1:47believe a bunch this games gonna change the world you know after regained
1:51some ass traffic and capability as well selling we could go up to the rash on to
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2:24to last and see how they can to bring it back to life for someone to help them
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2:3515 program we have 132 master pain in the program
2:40and I think we set some goals to for their that number
2:43and hopefully get 200 within the next like one or two years
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2:50and because I have actually credence took yes towards
2:54although agreements contracts brochures postcards necessary to get this started
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