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 the invitation from Century College Chinese Culture Club co-advisors Yanmei Jiang and Yan Wang, 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, employees, community members, and various Asian American organizations.

Arriving early, Jing and Grace found the venue, Lincoln Mall, was beautifully 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 because, without proper guidance, people might dispose of trash in the wrong bins.

Throughout the event, many attendees stopped not only to dispose of trash but also wanted to find out what ZIRAN does.

After seeing the recycling station, a Japanese international student commented, "it isn't as detailed or complex as Japan's, but it is more specific and clearer than typical waste sorting signage in the U.S." The student applauded ZIRAN's dedication to environmental protection.

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 would once again oversee event recycling. To find out more about the Asian Fair, visit tcasianfair.org.

After the event, Jing and Grace discovered a large, unmonitored trash bin filled with unsorted waste. Without hesitation, they began sorting it. Captivated by Jing and Grace's action, a student videographer 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 event organized by Teacher Yanmei Jiang: the Community & Student Writers Showcase with Guest Speaker David Mura.

Before dinner started, Jing shared the following information with event volunteer and Planning Activities Committee member Blessing Manka Ndam:

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

• Wooden chopsticks - recycle as organic waste

• Foil trays - recycle after some basic cleaning

• Food scraps - recycle as organic waste

• Soda cans and water bottles - recycle after emptying

• Only plastic silverware, candy wrappers and chip bags are landfill trash

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 BPI certified compostable 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.

A highlight of the evening came when Teacher Jiang asked Jing to take a picture with one of her students, Aiden. Jing was puzzled at first, but quickly learned why: this student had recently traveled to Japan on a Study Abroad trip to Japan, co-led by Yanmei Jiang and her English Department colleague Larry Sklaney. 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 practiced and made a poster "Garbage in Japan" to showcase what he learned from his trip, as well as his own research. Beaming with pride and joy, Jing listened to the student sharing his ZIRAN-inspired research project. “I can’t describe how happy I was to see our efforts inspiring the next generation!” Jing reflected.

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 into organic waste (e.g., food, napkins) and landfill waste (e.g., sandwich wraps, condiment packets, candy wrappers). She then flattened the lunch boxes sending clean ones to recycling and soiled ones to compost.

Teacher Wang Yan (Chinese language faculty and Chinese Culture Club co-advisor) joined her in this effort, and together they reduced three big bins of trash to less than half of a 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 wrappers, etc.)

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

Food soiled sandwich boxes would 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 200 plus participants produced less than one bin of trash. Everything else was recycled or set aside for composting. Plates and trays were neatly stacked, which significantly reduced the volume and the number of bags needed.

September 17, 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 to attend another event featuring guest speaker David Mura.

Since the theme of the event is broad collaboration, the organizers brought representatives from a diverse range of community organizations to campus, including Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL), Twin Cities Metro Asian Fair, Ziran, Minnesota Historical Society, and Japanese American Citizens League.

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 marked 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 enabled them to create the most organized and professional waste station ZIRAN had ever worked with!

During the event, ZIRAN met Kris Price, General Maintenance Lead, Facilities Student Worker Supervisor, and co-chair 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 4th among 33 Minnesota State Colleges, with a current recycling rate of 46% and a target goal of 75% by 2030.

The composting initiative had only begun three weeks earlier. Together, ZIRAN and Kris discussed next step strategies, such as stationing staff or volunteers near high-traffic areas like the cafeteria, improving signages, 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 12,000 students 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 enthusiastically embraced the idea of correct sorting and were open to learning.

Several Century employees 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 collaborative efforts of ZIRAN, Century College students, employees, and 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 as they could be rinsed more easily with a 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.

A huge shout to Teacher Yanmei Jiang, English faculty and club advisor, for building community connections, which contributed to making changes, one at a time, on campus and beyond!

Conclusion

ZIRAN’s three visits to Century College exemplifies the powerful impact that hands-on, community-driven sustainability efforts can have on fostering long-term change. Through their dedication to waste sorting and recycling, ZIRAN not only minimized landfill waste at each event but also educated and inspired students, faculty, and volunteers to adopt more sustainable practices. Their collaboration with Century College led to tangible improvements, such as the installation of compost bins and the college’s increased recycling rate. What began as small-scale, localized events grew into a broader movement that showcased the potential for sustainability to thrive on campus. ZIRAN’s work at Century College serves as a model for how community organizations, educational institutions, and individuals can come together to create a cleaner, greener future—one event at a time.

A McDonald’s lunch box rescue: One student tossed a box into the trash bin before any ZIRAN members noticed it. Jing peeked into the bin and found it was a McDonalds lunch box, “there must be mixed items in it that needs sorting”, Jing said and without second thought, she picked out and opened the box. Yes, just as she said, there were food scraps, two food-soiled French fry cartons, and a condiment packet… By some simple sorting, only the small condiment packet ended up in the landfill, and the rest went to organic recycling.

Plastic utensil confusion: One of the most common recycling mishaps is throwing plastic silverware into recyclables. ZIRAN members were able to stop and provide friendly reminders. ZIRAN volunteers also confirmed with Century staff that compostable utensils would replace plastic ones once the current stock is gone.

Curious learners: more people were eager to learn, studying the signs and asking questions to learn how to correctly sort trash. Ziran volunteers were heartened to hear feedback such as "I didn't know that, but now I do!' and "Thank you, this is really needed!"