Green Cell sells society on recycling

Volunteers construct community composter

By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Green Cell, the Alpharetta-based nonprofit, is endearingly scrappy, but it packs a punch with more than 100 volunteers.

The group leads a number of eco-conscious projects that service other cities in Fulton County, like Johns Creek, as well as Forsyth and Gwinnett counties.

Green Cell is also looking to engage communities outside of the state by setting up utensil banks in Charlotte and one in Texas. The project loans coolers and utensils for low-waste gatherings. By loaning utensils in 2022, Pankaj Rajankar said more than 100,000 single-use utensils were eliminated.

Rajankar, who co-founded Green Cell in 2018 with Sandesh Shinde, said the idea for Green Cell started with a well-liked Facebook post spreading environmental awareness.

“My comment on that was, ‘These likes don’t matter,’” Rajankar said.

He said everybody points a finger and asks others to change their habits, yet they hold a plastic bottle or don’t own reusable grocery bags.

“Unless all human beings change and ask for this change, the change is