WESTERLY -- Don’t let an opportunity to help struggling families stay warm this winter go down the drain.

A group of Dunn’s Corners School students brought this plea -- and a plan -- to town officials and the public this week.

With the enthusiastic message “recycling rocks,” the eight fifth-graders persuaded town officials to install at the town transfer station a collection drum for used, liquid cooking oil.

The youths have also, in partnership with two area companies, set up a process to convert that refuse into the clean burning alternative fuel, biodiesel.  They plan to distribute the biodiesel to local families that need assistance heating their homes -- all at no cost to the town.

The recently formed Junior WIN team -- following in the footsteps of the original and now-teenage Westerly Innovations Network (WIN) team -- hatched the idea after reading a news article about the WARM Shelter’s “A Dollar Makes a Difference” drive to raise heating assistance funds.

Department of Public Works Superintendent Peter Chiaradio said he expected two 55-gallon containers to be in place by today at the transfer station -- just in time to reap the benefits of countless holiday meals.

“I think it’s a great thing [that] the Junior WIN team is doing and I’m glad the town can be part of it as the a collection site,” Chiaradio said, adding the containers will be located by the WIN team’s electronic waste recycling bin near the scale house.

Some of the Junior WIN members plan to be at the transfer station between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday to chat with the public about their effort.

The youths described Project TGIF, which stands for Turn Grease Into Fuel, to the Town Council on Monday through a series of skits.

They implored residents not to throw waste cooking oil down the drain, where it can do damage.

Instead, they urged, take it to the transfer station.

But, in the skit, when one student attempted to do that, a hard hat wearing transfer station employee said, “I can’t right now.  But maybe the Town Council will help us.”

“Will you help us recycle grease?” the students asked councilors.

“Sure,” replied Councilor Christopher Duhamel.

Fifteen-year-old Alex Lin, the team’s assistant coach, said that if the public, businesses and organizations donate between 36,000 and 100,000 gallons of used cooking oil a year, they can produce between 25,000 and 70,000 gallons of biodiesel.  The youths plan to solicit restaurants, schools, the Westerly Hospital, social clubs and the senior center to contribute their waste.

Replacing just one gallon of petroleum diesel cuts down on 20 pounds of carbon emission.  So, the youths said, this project could reduce area carbon dioxide output annually by between a half and three quarters of a million pounds.

The Grease Guys, a Hamden, Conn. cooking oil recycling company, will pick up the transfer station stock, filter the raw waste oil and food scrap and deliver it to Westerly’s Mason Biodiesel.

Phil Mason, president of the Gavitt Avenue company that opened in the spring of 2006, said they will process the cleaned vegetable oil into 100 percent biodiesel. He said his son and business partner, Ryan Mason, has been working with the students.

Jason Lin, the team’s coordinator, said the oil is converted into national standard biodiesel, D-6751, through a process called transesterification. This mix of vegetable oil, methanol and lye produces biodiesel and glycerin, which is interchangeable with petroleum or can be blended with petroleum and used in diesel engines.

The processing costs will vary based on the amount of waste oil collected. Grease Guys and Mason Biodiesel plan to take out a processing fee in the form of a percentage of the biodiesel, but they have offered to cut in half their standard profit margin for this program. The Junior WIN team expects to get between 12 and 20 percent of the biodiesel produced, Lin said.

The team is still finalizing the delivery of this biodiesel to area homes, identified by the WARM Shelter and Bradford Jonnycake Center of Westerly.  Lin, however, anticipated using Guardian Fuel and Energy Systems, the Old Hopkinton Road company currently used by the WARM Shelter.

For the students, the end result is clear.

“Now I won’t freeze again,” said Mark Walker, who played in the skit a resident who had lost his job and needed home heating help.

The other Junior WIN team members are Emily Brennan, Vanessa Bertsch, Marissa Chairadio, Cassandra Lin, Miles Temel, John Perino and Taylor Fiore-Chettiar.