Circular Economy Policy: How New Mexico and the EU Are Building Reverse Supply Chains | CSCC (4/5)

Circular supply chains do not scale on corporate pilots alone. They require enabling policy: state-level incentives, workforce alignment, environmental regulation, capital pathways, and cross-border investment structures that make reuse-based business models viable. This is episode four of a five-part series with Pyxera Global and the Circular Supply Chain Coalition, exploring what the enabling environment looks like when policy moves from aspiration to implementation.Secretary James Kenney leads the New Mexico Environment Department, where he has built one of the most ambitious state-level circular economy strategies in the US. Under Governor Lujan Grisham, New Mexico offers free education from pre-K through university and trade school, universal child care, a 50-year water action plan backed by $400 million in annual investment, and PFAS legislation that listed discarded PFAS as hazardous waste with a consumer-facing label accessible to every New Mexican. The department created economic development positions whose only metric is jobs created and net income generated.Manuel Carmona Yebra is Deputy Head for Global Issues and Innovation at the EU Delegation to the United States. He has led EU-US circular economy engagement at the state level, engaging governors including Governor Wes Moore (Maryland), Governor Hobbs (Arizona), and Governor Lujan Grisham (New Mexico). His work has revealed that circular economy is bipartisan because it addresses economic development, environmental protection, employment, and supply chain security simultaneously.John Holm, SVP of Partnership Development at Pyxera Global and CSCC representative, frames the enabling environment strategy and explains why the coalition focuses on governor-level alignment rather than federal solutions. Together they unpack why states are laboratories for policy that scales and why the EU Circular Economy Act is expected to require 25% of critical minerals supply from recycling.Chapters:0:00 Introduction: the enabling environment1:00 John Holm: enabling environment in practice1:33 Security economy framing2:38 Why CSCC focuses on states and governors3:42 Secretary Kenney: New Mexico's model4:45 Free education, child care, workforce transition5:46 50-year water action plan6:19 Waste to marketplace: critical minerals7:48 PFAS legislation and the consumer label9:25 Consumer access to information about PFAS10:08 Secretary Kenney on trade association lawsuits11:12 EU Circular Economy Act and competitiveness12:26 25% of EU critical minerals from recycling13:04 EU-US state engagement14:18 Why the EU engages US states directly15:04 Circular economy as bipartisan17:48 Replicability and interstate symbiosis19:55 Sovereign supply chains, Mexico border corridor21:01 How to engageTopics: Circular economy policy, PFAS, EU Circular Economy Act, critical minerals, economic development, workforce transition, bipartisan policy, reverse supply chainConnect:New Mexico Environment Department: env.nm.govManuel Carmona Yebra: linkedin.com/in/manoloCSCC: circularsupplychain.orgPyxera Global: pyxeraglobal.orgJohn Holm: [email protected] Chain Queen: supplychainqueen.comSubscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen.