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Green Cell sells society on recycling Volunteers construct community composter
AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA
Devon Ramey, geospatial analyst with Nelson Intelligence Solutions, monitors drones mapping Macedonia Cemetery Feb. 28.
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.
Specialists visit Black cemetery ahead of survey By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com
GREEN CELL/PROVIDED
From left, Green Cell volunteer Uday Golambade, co-founder Pankaj Rajankar and board member Vijay Desai stand next to a newly constructed community composter in Alpharetta. Green Cell volunteers take material from around 25 families in their neighborhoods for composting. 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
not going to happen,” Rajankar said. He along with board member Vijay Desai and youth coordinator Ramya Shivkumar sat inside the
See SUMMIT, Page 18
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Macedonia Cemetery, a Black historical cemetery off Medlock Bridge Road, saw visitors Feb. 28 for a preliminary ground penetrating radar survey. Devon Ramey, a geospatial analyst with Nelson Intelligence Solutions, monitored drones aerialmapping the area. Meanwhile, Rauf Hussein, a geotechnical engineer, walked around the cemetery mapping locations using a phone application. Hussein said he has been doing ground penetrating radar (GPR) for a decade.
See SURVEY, Page 16