Yamaha Rightwaters has partnered with the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering — a joint college of Florida A&M University and Florida State University — to develop a land-based trash interceptor.
The interceptor would assist in removing debris from waterways before it reaches the ocean.
Yamaha Rightwaters is a national sustainability program that encompasses all of Yamaha Marine’s conservation and water-quality efforts. Its team designed and built a scale model of an interceptor last year and plans to deploy the finished unit — following input from the College of Engineering — in Brunswick, Ga., late this year or in early 2022. The organization plans to expand the project to waterways around the country.
“The trash interceptor pilot program is just the beginning of what we hope will become a much larger initiative,” John O’Keefe, senior specialist, government relations, Yamaha U.S. Marine Business Unit, said in a statement. “Working with the college, Yamaha Rightwaters hopes to engage a ‘student science’ approach to the trash interceptor while tapping into the enthusiasm this generation of students has displayed toward conservation and environmental issues.”
A group of undergraduate seniors is developing a land-based trash interceptor of their own design as their engineering capstone project. Their device must be economical, scalable and easy to deploy.
“The device our students are working on has a much broader scope, which brings its own challenges and opportunities,” said Shayne McConomy, faculty member and capstone design coordinator with the College of Engineering. “We’re asking them to design a trash interceptor that Yamaha Rightwaters can, in theory, deploy in waterways across the country.”
Last year, Yamaha Rightwaters and Skeeter donated a boat to FSU’s Coastal and Marine Laboratory to assist FSU’s Apalachicola Bay System Initiative.
“Yamaha Rightwaters and Florida State University share a common goal of cleaner, healthier waterways,” said O’Keefe. “Working together, we can help provide our children and grandchildren the same boating and fishing experiences we enjoy today.”
