A unique garden scenery located on the east side of the Arrow Pavilion Square in the Forbidden City often attracts familiar tourists to check in: the water ripples and lotus flowers sway in the stone sink, occasionally attracting butterflies to dance and birds to stop. This scenery also has its own name - the "Flower and Bird Scroll" of the ecological compost flower bed in the Forbidden City. Previously, this was a common garden greening flower bed: the bottom layer of 10 pine trees was planted with jade hairpins every spring, and withered plants were removed when winter came, and so on. Based on the concept of "zero waste", the design team spent nearly half a year transforming this place into an ecological compost flower bed in 2022. On the one hand, they extracted ecological elements from ancient flower and bird paintings collected in the Forbidden City and identified local plants that are still suitable for growth in the Forbidden City today; On the other hand, by combining the ecological functions of vegetation, we aim to preserve the native plants that were originally distributed in the North China region; And based on aesthetics and adaptability, select species that appear in both ancient paintings and classical gardens to form a community in the flower bed. Up to now, the "Flower and Bird Rolls" in the ecological compost flower bed of the Forbidden City contain over 20 species of local plants, landscape stones, lotus jars, as well as ecological facilities such as compost bins, earthworm towers, and insect houses, providing food, water, and habitat for birds, butterflies, and bees in the Forbidden City. Bird enthusiasts have observed that every autumn when the brown warbler passes through Beijing, it also stops here to forage and replenish energy for long-distance migration. The "Palace Museum Zero Waste" project is a public welfare project jointly initiated by the Palace Museum and Vanke Public Welfare Foundation in 2020. Based on extensive public participation, it adopts scientific and refined waste management methods and continues to pursue the goal of "reducing landfill/incineration waste to almost zero". Four years have passed, and the project has shown results. In terms of effective management of waste, the Palace Museum has gradually developed a set of tailored and practical waste classification management systems and rigorous implementation processes, from the rearrangement and reduction of the internal garbage bins, classified collection, classified transportation to the establishment of a resource recycling center. By conducting research and analyzing environmental behavior and presenting audience travel routes in different spatial and temporal dimensions through data analysis, we will understand where audiences will stay and rest for a long time, and based on the data, rearrange garbage bin locations in these places to facilitate audience waste disposal The head of the "Palace Museum Zero Waste" project team stated that after the reorganization, the number of garbage bins in the open area of the Palace Museum has been reduced from 310 to 110, and the newly added garbage bins are divided into four major categories and seven sub categories. This not only protects the heritage site's appearance, but also facilitates the resource recycling center to connect with professional garbage recycling channels for each category, improving the efficiency of garbage classification and the beauty of the courtyard. Observant viewers will discover compost bins placed under the red wall in the flower beds of Jianting Square during their tour. There are 40 such composting bins in the Palace Museum and the North Campus. As of the end of 2023, they have cumulatively consumed 54.5 tons of landscaping waste and produced 19.9 tons of compost soil amendments. These amendments will be used for soil optimization of garden plants in the courtyard, achieving self circulation of resources. At the Palace Museum, you can also see some special groups of young visitors. Their guides are not introducing traditional content, but telling various anecdotes and histories about "zero waste" in the Palace Museum. For example, "Many of the tiles in the Great Hall of Supreme Harmony are leftover tiles from other buildings, indicating that people already had the concept of saving materials and reusing old items at that time. Innovative presentation themes often attract many passersby to stop and listen. This is also an important part of the "Palace Museum Zero Waste" project - incorporating various groups such as staff, tour guides, audiences, and teenagers into the advocacy scope of the "zero waste" concept, thus forming a broad participation network. At the same time, combining the design concepts of green, low-carbon, environmentally friendly regeneration, and circular economy, wristbands are woven from fermented leaves from the Forbidden City, eye masks are produced from recycled waste plastic bottles, backpacks are made from apple peels... There are already as many as 33 environmentally friendly cultural and creative products that turn waste into treasure. According to incomplete statistics, from June 2021 to January 2024, over 60000 plastic bottles have been transformed into environmentally friendly cultural and creative products of the Forbidden City, equivalent to reducing 1.72 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. This newly created category of environmentally friendly cultural and creative products also subtly guides more people to come into contact with and accept circular economy cultural and creative products, allowing "zero waste" to integrate into daily life with a fashionable and practical attitude. As a world cultural heritage site, the Palace Museum has been dealing with the waste management issues brought about by the huge audience flow. Based on good implementation results, the "Palace Museum Zero Waste" project has been awarded as one of the top ten high-quality development cases of cultural relics in 2023. Regarding this, Wang Xudong, the director of the Palace Museum, stated that this project is a continuation of the Eastern concept, and the Palace Museum has the responsibility and obligation to contribute to green and sustainable development, telling the green story of Chinese museums well. (New Society)