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The summer road trip is an annual tradition for millions of American families. That often means changing the oil in the family car before hitting the road. Now, there's a greener oil on the market. You may have seen the green-themed commercials for Valvoline's new oil "NextGen" - short for Next Generation. The green messaging is unusual for an oil marketing campaign. That's because NextGen is made from 50 percent recycled oil. To hammer the "green" point home, Valvoline even bottled the new oil in green containers. It's not the first time Texas-based oil analyst Terry Dyson has heard of recycled oil. In fact, he remembers used oils being marketed in the 1950s. He says they used to have a bad rap because the old way of cleaning used oil wasn't very good. "Basically what they'd done is run it through a clay filter to get the majority of the particles out of the used oil," he says. "And everybody knew you were taking your chances with it." Dyson says smaller companies began selling better quality recycled oils in the 1990s. But Valvoline is the first large, national oil company to introduce a recycled oil to consumers. Thom Smith is the company's vice president of branded lubricant technology. He says that's because the re-refining process is much better. "We can now get a base oil from a re-refiner that's every bit as good as a virgin base oil," Smith says. Smith says about 85 percent of the oil we use in our cars is made up of a base oil. The rest consists of additives meant to keep our engines clean. Those additives wear out and that's why we have to change our oil. But Smith says the base oils really don't wear out and can be used again and again. Every gallon of oil that gets recycled produces about three-quarters of a gallon of rejuvenated oil. And Valvoline points out that it takes less energy to re-refine oil that's already been pumped from the earth. But can recycled oil actually give your car the protection it needs? Valvoline says yes - that NextGen is just as good as the company's regular conventional oil. And Dyson - who makes a living off of testing oil - says NextGen more than meets the industry standard. "Well let's put it this way - they blow it away with NextGen," Dyson says. The new oil has been available nationally for about two months. Smith - with Valvoline - says the company has been pleased with consumer response. Valvoline says it plans to keep its new oil about the same price as its conventional oil. And the company says if it can secure a larger supply of recycled oil, it would consider making NextGen with more than 50 percent recycled oil.