Accelerate to Zero BE Changemaker Award: Gayatri Vijay Kale
Gayatri Vijay Kale's path into sustainability was not a straightforward one. Starting out with strong foundations in project management, stakeholder engagement, and digital transformation, she recognised early on that she lacked the technical grounding in carbon accounting and circular economy practice that the built environment demands.
Rather than letting that hold her back, she introduced waste audits and a waste management policy at her work and applied for the Step Up to Net Zero programme run by Glasgow City Council and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.
For her resilience and meaningful progress on circularity, she was awarded the BE Changemaker Award at the Accelerate to Zero Awards 2025.
Finding value where others see waste
During a placement shadowing at EGG Lighting, Gayatri noticed aluminium scrap being generated from the disassembly of lighting panels for remanufacture. The material was collected, but never measured or valued.
Gayatri estimated that there was around 30kg of aluminium scrap per week. At UK rates of £800 per tonne, this equates to £24 weekly, or £1.2k annually from that single waste stream alone.
The financial case was clear, but the cultural shift it prompted was arguably more significant. Because the scrap had never been quantified, it was effectively invisible. Reframing it as a resource rather than a disposal problem, Gayatri opened up new conversations with both shop floor staff and senior managers about where else value might be hiding in the business.
Building Supplier Take-Back Schemes from the Ground Up
Working alongside electricians and technicians on the production line, Gayatri identified another recurring issue: excessive packaging arriving from suppliers, with no route back. Rather than framing this as a compliance problem, she approached it as a commercial opportunity, mapping the supplier landscape, identifying the three largest contributors to packaging waste, and opening dialogue around take-back schemes as a win-win for cost, efficiency, and resource recovery.
All three suppliers have expressed interest and discussions are underway to design a workable process. If successful, the initiative offers a replicable model that could be adopted by other manufacturers across the sector.
Change Through Human Connection
What makes Gayatri's story compelling is that neither initiative relied on deep technical expertise. Both were driven by curiosity, careful listening, and an ability to connect people across different parts of an organisation, from procurement managers to technicians, in pursuit of practical, measurable outcomes.
It is precisely this quality that the BE Changemaker Award is designed to recognise.
“The success of these initiatives was not rooted in technical expertise, but in human connection and project management.”- Gayatri Vijay Kale, EGG
The judges felt that Gayatri has shown passion and commitment to circular economy principles and climate initiatives in her work at EGG by introducing waste audits and a waste management policy.
But they were also impressed by her initiatives outside of work through her involvement with the Climate Ambassador programme and the 2050 Climate Group’s Leader Network, to name just a few of the things she’s achieved.
“This recognition strengthens my belief that sustainability has the greatest impact when people are empowered to act. That belief inspired me to establish With Intent Partners Ltd., a Glasgow‑based sustainability and net-zero consultancy focused on helping organisations move from Net Zero and ESG promises to practical, meaningful results. I’m committed to supporting teams and leaders as they turn intention into long‑term impact.”
Gayatri shows that circularity and waste reduction does not always start at the top. Sometimes it starts with someone willing to look closely, ask the right questions, and bring others along with them.