When the echoes of the marching band fade and the last of more than 77,000 fans depart, the memories remain—but so does the trash, an average of 51 tons of it. Plastic cups, wrappers and cans spill from overflowing trash receptacles, collect along pathways, and, carried by the wind, scatter across parking lots.
Post-game cleanup is currently a massive undertaking, requiring approximately 150 people three days to complete. During each 2025 home game, the University recycled an average of 12.9 tons of game-day waste, or 25 percent of the total, according to Notre Dame Sustainability. However, more must be done to reduce the growing volume of waste, particularly plastic waste.
Thanks to a generous gift from alumni donors Celeste (’78) and Kevin (’75) Ford, as well as Michael and Sarah Trela, both members of the Class of 2004, the College of Engineering is spearheading the inaugural campus-wide Notre Dame Innovation Challenge. The fall 2026 competition invites Notre Dame undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines to develop innovative solutions to reduce, replace, recycle, or reimagine sports-related plastic waste—from game-day concessions to athletic equipment and manufacturing.
Will the next big idea at Notre Dame be yours?
Each year, Notre Dame’s Innovation Challenge will encourage students to develop creative solutions to real-world problems through interdisciplinary collaboration, faculty mentoring, guidance from industry and Notre Dame experts, and competitive funding. Together, these resources enable participants to transform promising ideas into practical solutions that may take the form of new technologies, manufacturing processes, behavior change, campus policies, or entrepreneurial ventures.
“Entrepreneurship is one way for students to take a promising idea beyond the classroom and put it into the hands of the people who can use it,” said Sam Miller, teaching professor in the Mendoza College of Business and one of the challenge leaders.
“While game-day trash is a clear example of plastic waste, we also want students to think about other areas where sports rely on unsustainable uses of plastics, such as in sports gear and equipment,” said Patricia J. Culligan, the Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. “Enlisting the talents of our students is a powerful way to ensure that our solutions will be innovative and forward-looking.”
Rather than biodegrading, discarded plastics gradually break down into tiny particles called microplastics, which have been found in water, soil, wildlife, food and the human body, making plastic waste not only an environmental problem but a growing health concern.
“Plastic is used in countless products across our daily lives, and we know that there are negative ecological and health impacts when it breaks down in the environment,” said Kyle Doudrick, the Rooney Family Collegiate Professor of Environmental Engineering and challenge faculty mentor. “The 2026 Innovation Challenge is an opportunity to get people passionate about a problem that touches nearly every aspect of human life and brings together creative young minds to develop new solutions.”
Students interested in participating in this year’s challenge are encouraged to attend the Kickoff Event at 5 p.m., Monday, Aug. 31, in the Dahnke Ballroom on the seventh floor of the Duncan Student Center. At the event, students can register as individuals or in teams of four to seven members. Potential areas of innovation include, but are not limited to: plastics alternatives, recycling and re-invention of plastics, new processes to reduce or eliminate plastics, and policy and behavior change solutions. The 2026 Challenge offers $35,000 in prizes.
“The University of Notre Dame campus setting is in itself like a small town, offering a unique environment for students to investigate global sustainability challenges and solutions via examples here on campus,” said Geory Kurtzhals, executive director of Notre Dame Sustainability. “This innovation challenge is an opportunity for students to think of their campus as a living laboratory for learning.”
The Notre Dame Innovation Challenge is supported by our partners in Campus Sustainability; the College of Arts & Letters; the College of Engineering; the College of Science; Hesburgh Library; the Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative; the Keough School of Global Affairs; the Mendoza College of Business; Notre Dame Learning; Notre Dame Research; the Career Center; the Graduate School; the IDEA Center; Under Armour; University Operations; and the Walsh Family School of Architecture.
—Karla Cruise, Notre Dame Engineering