Amber Barbella

Amber Barbella is the founder and owner of Diversion Designers, one of Colorado’s leading zero-waste event management and consulting firms. With a background in environmental studies and art, she has built her career at the intersection of creative systems thinking and rigorous waste management practice, conducting waste characterization studies, leading Reuse Denver, contributing to New York City’s Citywide Waste Characterization Study, and guiding more than a dozen municipalities through zero-waste planning. Amber has trained hundreds of seasonal staff and educated thousands of community members on waste diversion, translating complex sustainability concepts into practical programs that produce measurable results.
What drives Amber is a deep commitment to resource reallocation, the belief that waste is not a problem to be managed but an opportunity to redirect valuable materials back into communities. Every system she designs, from festivals to municipal composting programs, is built around making the right choice the easy choice for the people using it. Her work spans event management, municipal consulting, restaurant advising, grant writing, and government procurement, giving her an intersectional perspective on how zero-waste programs get designed, funded, and actually implemented on the ground.