Geeta Pandey has worked at Comcast for almost 17 years and is currently an Account Representative on the Finance and Accounting team. Passionate about sustainable living, Geeta also leads the Green Council for the Oregon/SW Washington Region. The Portland Green Council aims to reduce their carbon footprint by reducing, repurposing, recycling, and rethinking what they use.
When Geeta began leading the Green Council, she knew she would need to build momentum and motivate employees to go green through education. To gain that momentum and build the Council, she needed to recruit more employees. By educating the Region on the importance of sustainability, she began to motivate employees to participate.
Driven by her “small act, big impact” mindset, she started paying more attention to the contents of the trash and recycling bins throughout the Oregon/SW Washington Region. She was surprised by the volume of food waste and used pens she found. Knowing that food waste is expensive to send to landfill, Geeta researched more affordable and eco-friendly solutions through composting. And she was determined to find a more sustainable use for all of those old pens.
To kickstart the composting program, Geeta once again worked to educate her colleagues on the positive environmental impacts of composting. She developed a presentation about the benefits of composting and shared her proposed composting plan. Along with several newly recruited Green Council members, she also partnered with facility leaders to get their support for the program. In 2017, the Oregon/SW Washington Region leadership team and Green Council launched a composting pilot at the Beaverton, OR, location. Two additional locations were added in 2019, for a total of three composting facilities that now serve more than 900 employees.
While the composting pilot was gaining momentum, Geeta also addressed the used pen waste. She found a resource by partnering with Pen Guy Art to turn Oregon/SW Washington Region pens that would otherwise be thrown away into recycled pen art.
“I am proud to be part of our company’s sustainability efforts because I believe sustainability is a necessity. I hope all of my colleagues will think about what small acts they can do to add to the collective impact we can have as a company,” said Geeta Pandey.
Today, the Portland Green Council has at least one ambassador at each Oregon/SW Washington Region location and is comprised of more than 100 members. From January 2018 through January 2020, the composting pilot diverted an estimated 202,446 pounds of food waste from landfill – which also provided cost savings to the company. And thousands of used pens now have a second life.
Geeta and the Portland Green Council are working to expand composting of food waste to other facilities. They’ve also developed programs to recycle K-Cups, coffee filters, and printer cartridges, and have implemented a Green Store in each building to encourage reuse of office supplies.
