Empowering Communities through Circular Supply Chains

Summary

In 2024, Pxyera Global committed to develop the Circular Supply Chain Coalition (CSCC) which will boost the U.S. supply of critical minerals by extracting them through a process of recycling consumer electronics. Building on a successful CSCC pilot in Lebanon, Tennessee, and other circular supply chain work in Alaska, this commitment leverages the CSCC’s expertise across sectors to expand circular supply chain development for critical minerals (e.g. lithium, cobalt, graphite, copper) in Anchorage, Atlanta, Cleveland, and Phoenix. The CSCC will develop social enterprises in these communities and leverage partnerships with logistics companies to develop a closed-loop system for critical mineral supply chains, create 5,000 green economy jobs, and promote economic inclusion and security for 600,000 people by reducing harmful extraction practices associated with critical mineral import dependence in the United States.

Approach

Pyxera Global, along with its commitment partners who form the CSCC are committing to scale their work in four cities. They will expand ongoing circularity work in Anchorage, Alaska, and launch work in three additional cities: Phoenix, Arizona; Cleveland, Ohio; and Atlanta, Georgia. In each location, the CSCC will focus on community engagement, connecting global supply chains, strengthening local value chains, and coordinating global supply chains.

First, Pyxera Global will initiate the process by identifying and aligning the CSCC’s efforts with micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to ensure that circular supply chains benefit all community members. They focus on strengthening and coordinating MSMEs that work on different parts of the same value chain in one geographic area. This involves mapping businesses within specific communities to address gaps, jumpstarting new and strengthening existing businesses through accelerator programs, and analyzing the market feasibility for local processing and sorting capacities. Through this work, the CSCC will support 2,000 MSMEs, 1,800 entrepreneurs, and create 5,000 new green economy jobs.

Second, Pyxera Global will forge strong partnerships with offtake institutions in global supply chains, who agree to buy back the material sorted and processed at the community level. This involves identifying key materials, creating future post collection and processing purchase agreements, and advocating for companies to join in the circular economy, diverting 600,000 products from landfills and eliminating 22,000 tons of CO2.

Finally, Pyxera Global will unite networks of social enterprises focused on a specific value stream and coordinate collection, sorting, and offtake efforts simultaneously. Their efforts include facilitating formal partnerships among MSMEs through cooperative models, which allows MSMEs to build collective capacity to sell processed material with more negotiating power. They will also work to co-locate MSMEs where possible to increase efficiency of multi-step material processing across multiple enterprises. Additionally, they will work with logistics providers to collect and redistribute the material, effectively coordinating the global supply chain in a circular manner.

Action Plan

In Year 1, Pyxera Global will scout and build partnerships for implementation , conduct critical material-stream analysis and market-feasibility studies, co-create KPIs and evaluation planning with community partners , identify appropriate off-takers for materials, and deploy small grants to build the capacity of existing SMEs. The goal of Year 1 will be that a supply chain is established for the first pilot location , KPIs are developed for the initiative , a location-specific implementation playbook (including partner roles) is created , and the implementation partners in the first location are established. During Year 1, Pyxera will also work on scaling their ongoing work in Anchorage.

In Year 2, they will establish the coordinating mechanism for small businesses to process material together, sign the procurement agreement with the off-take partner (manufacturer) to buy back the material, launch the new supply chain, make continuous improvements and refinement, as well as scout and start implementing in the second two U.S. locations. The goal of Year 2 will be that the methodology has been evaluated and refined , the volume, quality, and logistics mapped and quantified , lessons learned are recorded for incorporation into the next implementation, the second and third pilot locations are identified , and external-facing papers and research published, webinars and conferences are completed .

Background

The world’s consumption habits and business models are not built for reuse, repair, and remanufacturing. Globally, supply chains for manufacturing are exceeding the limits of the planet and communities are harmed, not helped, by the current economic system. In addition, the economy of our future is more reliant on critical minerals than ever before.

Currently, supply chains are neither designed to protect the environment nor ensure and restore planetary and human health. They also are not often tested in real-world conditions ; they focus on only one part of a value chain at a time , they do not coordinate and build relationships between all relevant public, private, and social sectors; they do not have explicit focus on improving the lives of structurally disadvantaged communities.

Since 2021, Pyxera Global has been addressing these problems through their work in ideating, convening, and building a reverse logistics hub in Alaska, aimed at converting 1-9 plastics from three feedstock hubs—marine debris, backhaul waste in native Alaskan communities, and the Anchorage municipality—and converting them into local products owned by Alaskans. Their learnings in Alaska informed the creation and implementation of the Circular Supply Chain Coalition (CSCC) , launching a pilot for a CSCC enabled city in Lebanon, Tennessee in 2022. Pyxera Global’s experience in Alaska and Tennessee has highlighted the tremendous need and potential of leveraging cross-sector partnerships to help transform and economically empower cities through circular supply chain practices.

Progress Update

Partnership Opportunities

Pyxera Global is actively seeking additional financial resources from the private sector and private foundation space to support this initiative while also looking for additional media support. Additionally, they are seeking policy specialists in the areas of remanufacturing and critical minerals to advocate for this critically important work and help secure additional public sector support., All coalition parties will contribute expertise, networks, and data to support the creation and adoption of a circular supply chain ecosystem, first in U.S. cities, and then eventually in other geographies with a focus on Europe. Pyxera Global will also share remanufacturing best practices in policies and procurement. Their research, tools, and methodologies will be made public for the industry and communities around the world to replicate and scale.