NICOSIA, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Scientists in Cyprus have

enlisted children to help recycle used cooking oil into biofuel

under an initiative that has received international acclaim.

The "Tiganokinisi", or frying pan, initiative visits schools

in a caravan, performs scientific experiments and encourages

children to bring in used cooking oil from their homes that is

then collected, filtered and sold on to be used as biodiesel.

The aim is for Cyprus to do its part to tackle a major

global problem, which sees millions of litres of used cooking

oil thrown away each year, often clogging drains, sparking fires

in landfills or contaminating underground water deposits.

"The logistics are huge to collect this half-litre of

cooking oil from (each of) our houses," said Xenia Loizidou,

chair of the AKTI Project and Research Centre, a local NGO

involved in environmental education that coordinates the

collection of the oil to be sold on as biofuel.

"We came up with this concept where the schools become hubs

of collection," she said.

Proceeds are divided among participating schools, depending

on how much oil they donated, and children have a say on what

green projects receive the money, Loizidou said.

More than 550,000 euros ($572,935) has been provided for

projects including photovoltaic panels in schools, water

fountains and aromatic gardens.

The project, backed by the Cypriot education ministry,

became part of the national curriculum in 2018 and now engages

more than 80,000 schoolchildren a year.

It has received awards from the European Commission as one

of the EU's best practices in social innovation and from

European education body GENE for exemplifying quality in global

education.

The project got a boost in 2021 when U.S. energy major

Chevron ( CVX ) stepped in to wholly finance the cost of the caravan,

which employs young scientists and has visited more than 500

schools.

"We want to be a positive partner in any of the communities

we operate in... We quickly realised this was a great fit for

us," said Kristian Svendsen, Chevron ( CVX ) regional manager for Egypt

and Cyprus.

From an estimated 2,000 tonnes of domestic cooking oil used

in Cyprus annually, about 10% is collected, Loizidou said.

"We want the children to know waste is not waste. Waste has

value, and this is the whole concept of a circular economy,"

said Loizidou.

($1 = 0.9600 euros)