The KODA story
KODA Environmental was founded on a shared belief: the environmental industry can do more than manage waste — it can create value.
Mission
To help organizations improve environmental performance through innovative, compliant, financially responsible solutions that create long‑term value.
Core belief
We do not believe a material becomes worthless simply because one operation no longer needs it. We believe its next opportunity has not been found yet — and finding it is what KODA was built to do.
Vision
The company organizations call when they need the right answer
To become the most trusted environmental solutions company in North America by delivering objective recommendations, measurable results and exceptional customer service — a partner, not another waste vendor.
Why KODA
KODA was founded by David Davis, who arrived at it through military command and environmental operations. Katherine Owenby, the company’s Chief Operating Officer, came from a different direction entirely — emergency services, logistics and recycling. The paths were not alike. The principles were remarkably similar: service, accountability, resourcefulness, leadership and execution.
Together they saw an opportunity to build something different — not another waste company, not another recycling company, and not another middleman. They envisioned an environmental company capable of understanding the entire operation: from the material leaving a production line, through the logistics, processing, vendors and economics, to its final destination.
Led by operators
who have done the work.
The name
KODA is built from both of theirs — four letters representing two people whose different paths led to the same mission.
David Davis
David spent more than two decades in the United States Air Force, where leadership, discipline, accountability and mission execution were expectations rather than corporate values. He served in operational leadership through that career, responsible for people, equipment and mission delivery in environments where the cost of getting it wrong was not measured in money.
He carried that into the environmental industry as Chief Operating Officer of an environmental services company, leading the operations, people and systems required to deliver complex multi-site programs. It gave him a direct view of how the industry actually works — and of how often a customer is sold a disposal method before anyone has looked closely at the material.
At KODA he leads strategy, growth and customer partnerships, and holds final accountability for how every engagement is delivered.
Be a partner,
not just a vendor.
Katherine Owenby
Katherine came to the environmental industry through emergency services and logistics, and has since led a recycling company and built a sustainability practice from the ground up at a national environmental services firm.
At KODA she runs operations. Program delivery, the standards every account is held to, and the reporting that goes back to the customer all sit with her.
In practice that means the Operational Review™ — the structured look at what a site actually generates, where it goes today and what that costs — and the documentation that follows every material from the dock to its final disposition. A recommendation that cannot be evidenced does not go out.
She is also the escalation point. One person accountable across every site on an account, rather than a different contact at each location and nobody responsible for the whole, which is how most multi-site programs quietly drift.
Divert first.
Dispose last.
Core values
What we hold to
Accountability
We own every recommendation and every outcome.
Integrity
We recommend what is best for the customer.
Innovation
We continually search for better environmental solutions.
Safety
Nothing is more important than protecting people and the environment.
Service
Customer success defines our success.
Continuous improvement
Every project creates an opportunity to improve future performance.
Customer promise
Every KODA customer receives
- Objective recommendations
- Evaluations that start with the material, not with a service to sell
- Transparent communication
- Regulatory compliance
- Cost-conscious solutions
- Executive-level reporting
- Long-term partnership
How we communicate
Standards we hold ourselves to
- The same person on your account from the first call to the final record
- Reporting cadence agreed in the proposal and never missed without proactive notice
- Reports a non-technical reader can act on in under two minutes
These standards apply to every engagement, from a single waste stream to a national portfolio.
Start with the material,
not the invoice
Every engagement begins with a KODA Operational Review™ — a structured evaluation of your facility, materials, vendors, and compliance requirements. Recommendations come from that data, not from a service we are trying to sell.