On February 4, over 66,000 people will stream into US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis in the American state of Minnesota for Super Bowl 2018. It’s the game that stops the nation, and produces around 40 tons of waste in the process (that’s a lot of plastic beer cups when you consider it’s almost four times as heavy as a cruise ship anchor) as revelers munch their way through hotdogs, burgers and nachos and swill beer from those iconic plastic red cups as they cheer on their NFL team. And that’s just the waste created at the stadium.

In previous years, the majority of waste generated by the Super Bowl crowd would end up in landfill. But this year, the NFL, along with the stadium, state authorities, food service provider Aramark, and sponsoring company PepsiCo are teaming up in an attempt to host the first-ever zero-waste Super Bowl, calling their game-day initiative Rush2Recycle.

And, just like scoring the coveted 30 second half-time ad slot, which costs US$5 billion, reducing waste at the county’s biggest sporting event will be no easy undertaking. The aim is for around 90% of the waste – think food containers, bottles and cans – to be either recycled or composted. The remaining non-recyclable plastics will be converted into energy in a local incinerator.

“The innovative project aims to set a new standard for waste diversion at one of the nation’s premier events and inspire action across the country,” explains the Rush2Recycle website of it’s game-changing plan, which also has tips to “green your game” at home, including providing two sets of labeled recycling bins alongside garbage bins to gamify recycling on the day – the losers with the most rubbish and least recycling in their half have to “take out the trash” at the end of the day.

“Some of the tactics we’re employing reflect tactics that are needed in the US in general,” says Roberta Barbieri, PepsiCo’s Vice President of global water and environmental solutions. “You need proper infrastructure, which is a fancy way of saying you need the right bins, and you need proper signage and education.” That infrastructure, along with anti-waste volunteers and paid student ambassadors who will man the bins and help inform the crowd on the day, forms the crux of the campaign. It’s a small change Rush2Recycle hope will make a big (40 tons to be exact) difference.

One argument is that food and beverage companies shouldn’t be creating the waste for us to recycle in the first place. Stadium caterers Aramark have heeded this call and have converted over 70 products – from beer cups to nacho trays – to compostable versions made by a company called Eco-Products.

This will be, for instance, the first Super Bowl to feature peanuts sold in biodegradable bags. And while that may not sound like a game-changer in itself, when you consider that it’s the most watched event on US TV and that more than 8 million tonnes of plastic is dumped in our oceans every year – 50% of it used just once before it is thrown away ­–  every little peanut bag helps.