Young Professionals Spotlight: Xinci Tan

In 2022, Xinci Chan joined the USCC Young Professionals (YP) Outreach Committee and the USCC Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Committee. She took over running the monthly happy hours for the YPs and helped to develop a training program for all USCC members for DEIA. Updates from both committees will be available soon.
 
Xinci is currently the Organics Program Manager for Zero Waste Sonoma, a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) based in Santa Rosa, CA. Her responsibilities include leading the countywide implementation of state law Short-lived Climate Pollutants (SB 1383), being involved in the County's efforts to permit and site a new composting facility, and organizing annual compost giveaway events and education. In 2022, with the help of volunteers, Zero Waste Sonoma had 25 giveaway events and 12 large donations to non-profits and NGOs, totaling 1700 cubic yards of compost.
 
Before joining the compost industry, Xinci earned a BS in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior from the University of Minnesota. Her senior research project involved studying the mating behaviors of crickets. After graduation, she worked for one and a half years with the USDA studying how environmental variability could affect plant absorption of soil nitrogen and techniques to limit fertilizer runoff. Xinci attended the COMPOST Conference in Atlanta in 2018 while serving in an AmeriCorps program, the Minnesota GreenCorps, conducting multifamily recycling education and outreach. She bought her own flight, had to volunteer, and slept on the couch of a friend's aunt's hotel room to attend the conference, but found it to be worth it. In November of the same year, Xinci Chan moved to California and hasn’t looked back. She is excited to see what the future brings.