The Mission

By combining creative problem-solving, material exploration, and circular engineering principles, we aim to demonstrate that waste can be reimagined as a resource, cultivate practical manufacturing and prototyping skills, and showcase student-led innovation that contributes to a more sustainable and resilient campus ecosystem.

The Challenge

Across the University of Maastricht, valuable materials like metals, plastics, electronics, wood, and other components, enter waste streams without being recovered or re-purposed to their highest potential. At the same time, the graduation season routinely relies on newly manufactured merchandise, which carries additional environmental impacts and misses the opportunity to reflect the values of circularity and sustainability on campus. Students have limited opportunities to engage deeply with real waste materials, apply the engineering design process outside the classroom, or create products that directly represent circularity in practice. This gap results in: - Underutilization of campus waste streams - Missed opportunities for hands-on design cycle implementation - Limited student exposure to manufacturing, upcycling, and material recovery techniques - Graduation gifts that do not reflect UM’s or CE’s sustainability commitments - Lost chances to demonstrate the value of circular systems to the broader community

The solution

We propose the Grad Gift Design Competition, a student-led initiative that transforms UM waste streams into high-value, meaningful graduation gifts. The competition provides students with access to recovered materials, fabrication support, and workshops in partnership with the local makerspace and the CE fabrication ecosystem. Through the engineering design process of problem definition, ideation, prototyping, testing, and refinement, participants will develop manufacturable products created entirely from recycled materials. The program: - Recovers usable materials from UM’s waste streams with approval from facility managers - Stores and organizes these materials for student use - Offers machinery, repair, and material-processing workshops - Encourages systems thinking, creativity, and responsible material choice - Produces a high quality final gift selected by a panel of faculty and students based on design, manufacturability, material circularity, and aesthetic value Ultimately, the competition turns waste into legacy items, equips students with practical circular engineering experience, and embeds sustainability into the identity of CE graduation traditions.