Kickstart: A community celebration for Gordon Lankton

When Gordon Lankton, who had owned Nypro Inc., died in March of this year, a lot of industry leaders mourned his death. But his work and vitality expanded far beyond plastics.

On Aug. 14, the town of Clinton, Mass. — Nypro's hometown — joined in celebrating Lankton's life at a special gathering.

Beyond his close relationship with employees, noted in a story in the Telegram & Gazette by Ken Cleveland, he also played a big part in developing the FIRST robotics program at Clinton schools.

"Gordon will never realize the number of students who chose their career because of the program," teacher Paul Morrison said.

Lankton also used his personal collection to create the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton and also created a 100-year plan for the museum's future to ensure its stability long after his own death. The museum is offering free admission throughout August in honor of Lankton.

Yamaha Motors Corp. is getting into recycling for its marine division with a pilot program using "reverse logistics" that will collect protective film used during shipping and use chemical recycling to recover it.

The program is an extension of the Yamaha Rightwaters' sustainability project that also targets waterway cleanups and fishery improvements.

The pilot program teams Yamaha with Atlanta-based Nexus Fuels and Tommy Nobis Enterprises of Marietta, Ga., to collect polyethylene and polypropylene film used during shipping from Skeeter Boats of Kilgore, Texas, and Yamaha Jet Boat Manufacturing of Vonore, Tenn., Yamaha Rightwaters said in an Aug. 18 announcement.

Yamaha will oversee collecting the film, Tommy Nobis workers will remove nonrecyclable elements such as zippers and Nexus will use its proprietary pyrolysis to convert the material back into feedstock for future plastics.

"Of course, there is a cost," said Martin Peters, who leads sustainability initiatives for the Yamaha U.S. Marine Business Unit. "Part of the purpose of the pilot is to determine how to reduce the cost of reverse logistics so that we are able to create a systemwide, national program."

Molder Orbis Corp. is helping the Milwaukee Summer Fest be a bit more sustainable.

Orbis, based in nearby Oconomowoc, Wis., is the "official sustainability partner" of the festival set for Sept. 2-18. The event draws an estimated 1.3 million people each year to the 75-acre festival site along Lake Michigan.

This year those visitors will have access to 130 recycling collection bins donated by Orbis. The bins also will then remain in place for other events at the park, the company said in a news release.

"We look forward to partnering with Orbis to increase recycling throughout the grounds and educate park visitors about recycling," said Don Smiley, president and CEO of event organizer Milwaukee World Festival Inc.