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 environment 1:00 John Holm: enabling environment in practice 1:33 Security economy framing 2:38 Why CSCC focuses on states and governors 3:42 Secretary Kenney: New Mexico's model 4:45 Free education, child care, workforce transition 5:46 50-year water action plan 6:19 Waste to marketplace: critical minerals 7:48 PFAS legislation and the consumer label 9:25 Consumer access to information about PFAS 10:08 Secretary Kenney on trade association lawsuits 11:12 EU Circular Economy Act and competitiveness 12:26 25% of EU critical minerals from recycling 13:04 EU-US state engagement 14:18 Why the EU engages US states directly 15:04 Circular economy as bipartisan 17:48 Replicability and interstate symbiosis 19:55 Sovereign supply chains, Mexico border corridor 21:01 How to engage Topics: Circular economy policy, PFAS, EU Circular Economy Act, critical minerals, economic development, workforce transition, bipartisan policy, reverse supply chain Connect: New Mexico Environment Department: env.nm.gov Manuel Carmona Yebra: linkedin.com/in/manolo CSCC: circularsupplychain.org Pyxera Global: pyxeraglobal.org John Holm: [jholm@pyxeraglobal.org](mailto:jholm@pyxeraglobal.org) Supply Chain Queen: supplychainqueen.com Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen.