WBRZ - Baton Rouge

NEW ORLEANS - It's a Cajun tradition that has grown in popularity - deep frying the Thanksgiving turkey rather than baking it.

The process requires several gallons of high grade oil, which usually ends up in a landfill somewhere after the holiday.

Now a New Orleans nonprofit that trains high school- and college-aged youth to create biodiesel products hopes to see that oil not only turn out crispy turkeys, but good mileage on Louisiana vehicles.

The Gulfsouth Youth Biodiesel Project, a program of Operation REACH, Inc., and AmeriCorps NCCC will be collecting that oil at a number of sites around the metropolitan New Orleans area from Nov. 29 to Dec. 4 and using it to produce eco-friendly biodiesel fuel.

Image courtesy of Shawn-Knight.net.