ZIRAN's Three Journeys to Century College - Building a Culture of Sustainability

In a little over four months, ZIRAN visited Century College three times. Read about the story on how their journeys helped shaping this school's sustainability practice.

On Thursday, May 8th, thanks to an invitation from Teach Yanmei Jiang, Jing Li and Grace Li from ZIRAN participated in CelebrAsian at Century College, an event celebrating Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) heritage. Approximately 200 people attended the event including students, faculty, and members of various community organizations.

Arriving early, Jing and Grace found the venue beautifully and festively decorated with Asian lanterns.

After assessing the space, they quickly set up the trash station with clear signage designed by ZIRAN. They also tried to hide other trash cans to prevent misplaced waste, a common challenge without supervision.

Throughout the event, many attendees stopped not only to dispose of trash but also to learn about ZIRAN’s work

One Japanese student praised the recycling station, remarking that while it wasn’t as intricate as Japan’s system, it was far more detailed and user-friendly than typical U.S. waste sorting.

Alongside Chunmei, Jing and Grace also promoted the upcoming Twin Cities West Metro Asian Fair, an annual celebration of Asian cultures in the local community, where ZIRAN will once again oversee event recycling. (Learn more at tcasianfair.org)

After the event, Jing and Grace discovered a large, unmonitored trash bin filled with unsorted waste. Without hesitation, they began sorting it. A student volunteer filming the event was so captivated and recorded the entire process, while expressing amazement as Jing explained the recycling steps: “Oh, I didn’t know this… Oh, I learned that.” Jing reflected, “It’s so rewarding when people learn from our actions.”

May 8, 2025 CelebrAsian at Century College - ZIRAN’s First Step Onto a College Campus

June 24, 2025 Community and Student Writers Showcase with Guest Speaker David Mura

Less than two months after the CelebrAsian event, Jing returned to Century College for another program organized by Teacher Yanmei Jiang: the Community & Student Writers Showcase: Discovering My Identity – Meet with David Mura.

Before the dinner, Jing trained the event volunteer, Blessing, with clear sorting instructions:

• Plates - marked as BPI compostable, recycled as organic waste.

• Wooden chopsticks - recycled as organic waste

• Foil trays - recycled after some basic cleaning

• Food scraps - all recycled as organic waste

• Soda cans and water bottles - recycle after emptying

• The only landfill items - plastic spoons and folks, candy wraps and chip bags

Jing then set up the above trash station like the last time. Unable to locate the large trash bins in advance, she improvised by modifying two Twin Bins covering the Recycling opening on the left trash bin and the Waste opening on the right trash bin, so the openings are aligned with the correct signages. To further reduce organic waste volume, she encouraged attendees to stack their plates neatly.

Blessing, on the far right in this picture, quickly picked up the system after Jing’s training and began helping guests dispose of waste correctly. She also ensured all aluminum foil trays were recycled after dinner.

Meanwhile, Jing stayed at the station throughout the event, guiding participants in proper waste disposal. Thanks to their efforts, the entire showcase produced only one small trash can of landfill waste (see the picture below: the one on the right).

A highlight of the evening came when Teacher Jiang asked Jing to take a photo with one of her students, Aiden. Jing was puzzled at first and soon learned why: this student had recently traveled to Japan on a cultural tour led by Teacher Jiang. Inspired by ZIRAN’s recycling work at the May 8 CelebrAsian event, he had paid close attention to Japan’s recycling practices. Upon returning, he created a poster board presentation summarizing his observations and promoting better waste sorting at the event. Jing was thrilled: “I can’t describe how happy I was to see our efforts inspiring the next generation!”

Towards the end of the event, Jing discovered three large bins of trash full of the Subway lunch boxes from a lunch gathering earlier in the day.

Once again, she rolled up her sleeves, dragged them to the Trash Station and started to sort them. She took out the content from the lunch boxes and separated them to organic waste (e.g., food, napkins) and landfill waste (e.g., sandwich wraps, condiment packets, candy wraps). She then flattened the lunch boxes sending clean ones to recycling and soiled ones to compost.

Teacher Wang Yan joined her in this effort, and together they reduced three overflowing bins to less than half a single trash bin.

Minimal amount of trash

Foil trays were stacked to be recycled

Recycled cans and bottles (Jing ensured their cleanness by picking out contaminants: paper towels, candy wraps, etc.)

Organic waste from the event including food/organic content from the discarded Subway sandwich boxes.

Food soiled sandwich boxes will be composed.

Clean sandwich boxes were flattened to be recycled

ZIRAN’s presence not only helped keep the event sustainable but also inspired students, volunteers, and faculty alike.

Special thanks to Teacher Yanmei Jiang for her support, encouragement, and for promoting these practices throughout the community.

Thanks to their efforts, an event with nearly 200 participants produced less than one bin of trash. Everything else was recycled or set aside for composting. Plates and trays were neatly stacked, reducing volume and the number of bags needed.

September 18, 2025 ZIRAN’s Third Visit to Century College - Growing Green Together

About three months after the second event, ZIRAN returned to Century College for the third time, once again featuring guest speaker David Mura.

For this event, organizer Yanmei Jiang aimed to expose students to a diverse range of Twin Cities organizations. Among those represented were the Office of Institutional Climate & Culture, the Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL), the Twin Cities West Metro Asian Fair, and ZIRAN.

Arriving early, ZIRAN members Jing Li, Grace Li, and Peng Nelson set up the Minimal Waste Station—their 20th event recycling in just one year. Yes, September 17, 2025 officially marks ZIRAN’s one-year anniversary!

To their surprise and delight, Century College had recently installed compost bins alongside full-sized recycling and trash bins. This created the most organized and professional waste station ZIRAN had ever worked with!

During the event, ZIRAN met Kris Spice, General Maintenance Lead, Facilities Student Worker Supervisor, and member of the Century Sustainability Committee. Kris, a key driver of sustainability efforts on campus, shared updates on recent progress and proudly highlighted her presentation at a Minnesota State Colleges conference about waste reduction on campus. Century now ranks #4 among 33 Minnesota colleges, with a recycling rate of 46% and a goal of reaching 75% by 2030.

The composting initiative had only begun three weeks earlier. Together, ZIRAN and Kris discussed strategies such as stationing staff or volunteers near high-traffic areas like the cafeteria, improving signage, and offering continuous education. ZIRAN was invited back in three weeks to deliver an environmental lecture.

It was inspiring to witness such rapid green change on a campus of 11,000 students and 300 faculty members in only a short 4 months!

Lessons from the Minimal Waste Station

Even with new bins and signage across campus, some participants were still uncertain about sorting. Fortunately, most were enthusiastic, welcoming the idea of correct sorting and open to learning.

Several faculty members, including Kevin Jordan, Associate Vice President, Michelle Schoenecker, Director of Center for Professional Development and Bee Moua: AANAPISI Assistant Director stopped by to greet ZIRAN and express their appreciation.

A Cleaner, Greener Outcome

Thanks to the combined efforts of ZIRAN, Century College students, staff and the community members, all waste was sorted correctly. Unlike previous events, ZIRAN no longer needed to haul organic waste home for composting as Century’s new system could handle it on site. The only exception was a stack of foil trays, which ZIRAN took home that could be rinsed more easily with garden hose before recycling.

This third visit not only marked ZIRAN’s 20th Minimal Waste Event, but also celebrated real, measurable progress in building a greener campus community.