ZIRAN's Visits to Century College and Their Impact on Sustainability

In a little over four months, ZIRAN visited Century College three times. What started as simply providing guidance and assistance in event recycling turned into a long-term change on the campus in sustainability. These visits fostered greater awareness and action around environmental issues among students, faculty, and community members. Following is a quick summery. Read the full story at ZIRAN's Three Journeys to Century College - Building a Culture of Sustainability

May 8, 2025: CelebrAsian Event
ZIRAN's first visit was to the CelebrAsian event, which celebrated AAPI heritage. Jing Li and Grace Li set up a waste-sorting station with clear signage and provided guidance on proper waste disposal. Their efforts were praised by attendees, including a Japanese student who noted how user-friendly the sorting system was. After the event, ZIRAN volunteers even sorted a large, unsupervised trash bin, showing their commitment to education and hands-on action. Their action captivated a student who volunteered filming the event and video-taped the whole sorting process.

Through these visits, ZIRAN not only contributed to reducing waste at each event but also inspired greater sustainability practices within the Century College community. They celebrated measurable progress, such as the college’s improved waste sorting systems and active involvement from faculty and students. This last visit also marked ZIRAN's 20th event recycling efforts and helped Century College make significant strides toward a greener campus.

A huge shout to Teacher Yanmei Jiang in playing an instrumental role in making the connections and pushing these changes to reality!

Read the full story at ZIRAN's Three Journeys to Century College - Building a Culture of Sustainability

June 24, 2025: Community & Student Writers Showcase
Less than two months later, ZIRAN returned for the Community & Student Writers Showcase, where they continued to lead the effort in waste sorting. They trained volunteers on what could be composted or recycled, reducing the event’s landfill waste to a single small trash can. This event also inspired a student, Aiden, to create a poster promoting better waste sorting after seeing ZIRAN’s practices at CelebrAsian. ZIRAN's educational role was highlighted when Jing spent time teaching others about proper recycling, turning a simple task into a learning experience for everyone involved.

September 18, 2025: Growing Green Together Event
ZIRAN's third visit came just three months later, marking their one-year anniversary of hosting "Minimal Waste" events. This time, Century College had recently installed compost bins and improved waste sorting systems. ZIRAN worked alongside Kris Spice, a sustainability leader at Century, to strategize improvements and ways to increase campus recycling rates, with the goal of reaching 75% by 2030. The event was a success, with waste correctly sorted on-site, thanks to the campus's new infrastructure. ZIRAN’s presence helped further elevate the school's sustainability efforts, and they were invited back to continue supporting these initiatives.

To have a feel of the changes that took place on Century College campus, take a look at the Minimal Waste Stations evolved over the three events! With the newly installed compost bins alongside existing full-sized recycling and trash bins on campus, the waste station created was the most organized and professional one that ZIRAN had ever worked with!