PHOTO COURTESY YAMAHAYamaha Rightwaters has partnered with the University of Georgia to sponsor a Sustainability Certificate Capstone Project focused on enhancing its plastics recycling program. These projects help clients address sustainability challenges and give students an opportunity to apply what they’ve learned to real-world situations.
Capstone teams are usually made up of three to five students overseen by a faculty mentor. UGA students Maci Willets and Elizabeth Finely, who are pursuing bachelor of arts degrees in ecology, are working to earn sustainability certificates through the Yamaha Rightwaters Capstone Project.
“This project builds off the success of the Yamaha Rightwaters plastics recycling program and allows these two students to work with dealerships, boatbuilders and other Yamaha customers to collect supply-chain plastic and redirect it towards productive uses,” Joshua Grier, sustainability manager at Yamaha Marine Business Unit, said in a statement. “The students will help identify and catalog our largest producers, as well as calculate the impacts of our diversions.
“By identifying recycling partners and processors near our largest plastic waste generators, we can minimize secondary emissions and strengthen relations within our dealer and boatbuilder communities,” he added.
The interdisciplinary certificate in sustainability that the students earn is designed to give them the skills to make systemic changes in their communities.
