Circular Sourcing & Procurement: Critical Minerals Recovery w/ ABTC and Cummins | CSCC Series (3/5)

This is episode three of a five-part series produced in partnership with Pyxera Global and the Circular Supply Chain Coalition. Recovering a material is only the beginning. For circular supply chains to scale, operators must understand what buyers can qualify and use, while buyers must create credible demand signals and procurement pathways for secondary materials. This episode covers the matchmaking layer: how the CSCC connects reverse supply chain operators with industrial buyers. Ryan Melsert is the co-founder and CTO of American Battery Technology Company (ABTC), which operates a battery recycling facility selling approximately one thousand tons per month of critical minerals back into the market. Ryan's career spans Tesla (where he helped design and build the first gigafactory) and the company is now BASF's exclusive battery recycling partner for all of North America. Rafael Vasquez Lombardo leads sustainability strategy and customer solutions at Cummins, a 100+ year industrial manufacturer with global remanufacturing operations. Anita Schwartz returns as CSCC co-founder. Together they unpack what it takes to move from collecting battery feedstock to producing materials that industrial buyers can evaluate, qualify, and integrate into established supply chains. Rafael outlines the performance-cost-trust triangle that governs sourcing decisions at scale, and Ryan explains why the qualification process will never get shorter (consumers demand zero tolerance for component failure). They close with a lightning round where Rafael delivers the episode's defining line: stop talking about circular sourcing, this is just sourcing. Chapter Markers: 0:05 Introduction: buyer-operator matchmaking in reverse supply chains 1:19 Meet Anita Schwartz (CSCC co-founder) 2:06 Meet Ryan Melsert (ABTC): Tesla, gigafactory, battery recycling 3:47 Meet Rafael Vasquez Lombardo (Cummins): engineering to circular economy strategy 6:33 From convening to active matchmaking: what changes 7:50 Operator perspective: from feedstock to buyer-ready supply 9:10 BASF partnership: becoming their exclusive North American battery recycling partner 10:51 Buyer perspective from Cummins: performance, cost, trust 15:04 After the introduction: what happens day-to-day 16:59 Data exchanges, audits, and the high-trust environment 17:33 Validation steps from pilot to production 20:07 Lightning round: what to stop, what data matters, optimism Key Topics:  Reverse supply chain, buyer-operator matchmaking, battery recycling, critical minerals, Cummins, ABTC, BASF, circular procurement, secondary materials, supply chain qualification, remanufacturing, performance specs, supply chain trust, CSCC, Pyxera Global Connect and Learn More: American Battery Technology Company: americanbatterytechnology.com Cummins: cummins.com CSCC: circularsupplychain.org Pyxera Global: pyxeraglobal.org Sheri Hinish: supplychainqueen.com