Zero Waste Valet

Randi’s background is in sports management and leadership. Having been a gymnast nearly 13 years, she found her way into coaching during her undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin. While working with kids, she began to think more about the future that was in store for herself and her athletes – and given the impact of climate change, the future seemed bleak. After 9 years managing operations and facility expansion at a local gym in Austin, she shifted into small business consulting focused on helping business owners scale their operations. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she took the opportunity to attend graduate school at Colorado State University’s Impact MBA program where she discovered a passion for waste diversion and education. Her newfound passion led her to working at and managing Scraps’ event program where she honed her skills in waste diversion communication. She has helped hundreds of event attendees and organizers understand the importance of proper composting and recycling for both the climate and local ecosystem. In the spring of 2024, she took the lead as director of Scraps’ newest endeavor, Denver International Airport’s Zero Waste Valet project. Here, she combines her small business acumen and entrepreneurial background with her knowledge of behavior change and waste diversion. When she’s not at Scraps, she practices yoga and hangs out with her cat, Odie.

Christi is founder and CEO of Scraps. Long before starting a business, Christi spent nearly a decade in international development, primarily in Madagascar, partnering with communities to create appropriate solutions to local sustainability challenges. In a pivot from sustainable development, she came to Colorado to pursue a masters in environmental journalism and approach sustainability & climate issues through a reporter’s lens; working as a journalist, however, felt removed from community-level problem solving. Christi found herself opening to the potential for responsible business to create positive impact, and at the time, Denver’s food waste issue was in need of innovative, scalable solutions. She launched Scraps in 2017 as a simple, bike-based compost pickup service for Denver’s underserved downtown community. In the nine years since, Scraps has grown to reach thousands of commercial & residential members throughout the Denver Metro, diverted more than 10 million pounds of material, and become one of the most recognized organics haulers on Colorado’s Front Range. Through its zero-waste programming, Scraps has worked with hundreds of events to minimize waste. Since 2024, Scraps has applied its proven waste diversion strategies in partnership with the city’s largest economic driver and most complex environment, the Denver International Airport, in the groundbreaking Zero Waste Valet program. Scraps remains devoted to increasing access to composting, raising awareness of its benefits and helping make composting the norm in Colorado. Christi lives on a small homestead in Arvada, CO with two dogs, two cats & a herd of other rescue animals.

Growing up in Kenya, Baraka found his passion for environmental health at a very young age. At the age of 18, he started collecting trash, recycling and compost in his hometown of Dandora, Nairobi. He received a certification for educating the public on drug and substance abuse as well as environmental health matters. Baraka moved to the United States in 2023 and continued to fuel his passion for sustainability through his work and personal life. He joined the Zero Waste Valet team in February 2025 and is eager to be a part of the project’s growth and impact throughout the airport. In his free time, he enjoys creating African designs, listening to reggae music and watching professional soccer.

John is originally from Rural Nebraska where he obtained his degree in education. He moved to the Denver area in 2014 where he spent years teaching in classroom and online environments.

John pivoted to the waste management field, working with hazardous materials and most other facility waste streams. John has helped develop site-specific training materials, waste tracking and diversion plans, and used communication and relationship building to increase program participation and efficacy from team-members, vendors, and customers alike.

When he isn’t elbows deep in waste bins or spreadsheets, you can usually find him chasing around his two kids at home, the park, the zoo and just about everywhere else. He’s excited to bring his wide-ranging experience to the DEN Zero Waste Valet program.

Felipe grew up on a ranch in Cenotillo in Yucatan, Mexico. He has worked in the food service industry for 33 years and brings extensive experience from a variety of kitchen environments. He is bilingual in Spanish and English, helping the team more effectively communicate across the various airport teams we work with in a rich multilingual environment. He is passionate about building a better future for his children and new grandson, which brought him to this position on the Zero Waste Valet team.

Elena is a sustainability professional whose work is rooted in waste diversion, environmental data & community-focused impact. Her interest in waste diversion grew during a summer at Walking Mountains Science Center in the Vail Valley, where she supported Zero Waste operations and strengthened her understanding of composting, recycling & material recovery. That experience inspired her to continue building expertise in waste-related systems and to help organizations reduce contamination and make more responsible choices with their resources.

Elena holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology along with certificates in sustainability and GIS, which help her to blend people-centered insight and technical data skills. She has applied that experience in environmental and engineering consulting, nonprofits & corporate sustainability, with work ranging from emissions analysis, to hands-on waste diversion projects, to sustainability-focused education efforts. Elena is motivated by work that supports healthier communities and more responsible systems, and she is committed to making sustainability approachable for everyone.

Elena loves hiking, trying new restaurants, making art & spending time with her cat Sasha.