The Circular Economy Show Podcast

This edition of Circular Snapshots covers a lot of ground. Mexico passed landmark circular economy legislation in January — and it deserves far more attention than it got. We also look at Circle Economy's latest report, which puts a €25.4 trillion price tag on the value destroyed every year by our linear economy, and the EU Circular Economy Act as it heads toward autumn adoption.

Plus a quick run through of four shorter stories: HP mining its own e-waste to build new laptops, the UK Packaging Pact launching with 100 founding organisations, a new fashion industry initiative to scale textile-to-textile fibre recycling, and fresh data on what's really driving the secondhand boom.

Show notes: 

Circularity Gap Report 2026 (Circle Economy): https://dashboard.circularity-gap.world/report/2026/cgr-2026-overview

EU Circular Economy Act: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/eu-circular-economy-act

Mexico Enacts General Law for the Circular Economy: https://mexicobusiness.news/sustainability/news/mexico-enacts-general-law-circular-economy

HP mining its own e-waste: https://www.fastcompany.com/91501080/hp-is-mining-its-own-e-waste-to-build-its-latest-laptops

UK Packaging Pact launches: https://www.wrap.ngo/media-centre/press-releases/uk-packaging-pact-launches-unlock-progress-transforming-packaging

Circular Fibre Collective launch: https://www.thefashionpact.org/industry-leaders-launch-the-circular-fibre-collective-to-scale-t2t-recycled-materials-by-2030/

ThredUp 2026 Resale Report: https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/articles/thredup-spots-worrisome-trend-consumer-150700654.html

Flexible plastics are hard to collect, harder to recycle, and leaking into our oceans at scale. Could paper step in? And can it do so without creating a whole new problem?

In this episode, Pippa is joined by Laura Smith, Programme Manager for Plastics and Packaging at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Jonathan Gill, Global Head of Sustainability, Plastics, at Unilever and Valerie Langer, Strategic Lead, Next Generation Solutions at Canopy. Together they discuss the six critical criteria for responsible paper-based packaging, the innovation and collaboration needed to scale solutions, and why there's no silver bullet.

Read the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s report on paper-based flexible packaging

E-waste is our fastest-growing waste stream, expanding five times faster than we can recycle it. But it's also one of our greatest untapped opportunities.

With the demand for critical minerals showing no signs of stopping, recovering materials from the billions of dollars’ worth of mobile phones hibernating in our drawers is increasingly important.

In this episode, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Danielle Holly, Executive Lead for North America, and Wen-Yu Weng, Executive Lead for Critical Minerals, join Pippa to explore how the circular economy can transform how we produce, use, and recover electronics, and the critical minerals inside them.

Find out more about the Foundation’s work in Critical Minerals.

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Why is it that despite the success of individual circular business models, we simply aren’t seeing a wider shift across the entire economy? In this episode Lou is joined by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Strategic Finance and investment team, Emily Healy and Joe Rodgers.

Together, the team explores how systemic investing and capital orchestration could be the tools we need to take this transition forward, and look at where we are currently seeing this thinking brought into ‘on the ground’ demonstration projects.

Emily and Joe also explain how in many cases the right financing is out there, but more thoughtful allocation and coordination could result in better, more resilient outcomes. 

If you enjoyed this episode, then please share with your colleagues, or leave us a review or comment on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.

In a world of rising tariffs and supply chain disruption, could circularity be one of the smartest business moves a company can make? Danielle Holly, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s North America Lead, is joined by Tensie Whelan, founder of the Center for Sustainable Business at NYU Stern and former President of the Rainforest Alliance, to explore this and more.

Tensie explains the ROSI (Return on Sustainability Investment) framework, developed at NYU Stern to help companies track and monetise the full value of sustainability strategies. This includes operational efficiency, risk reduction, new revenue and customer loyalty. Together, they explore how circular approaches can shorten supply chains and reduce exposure to tariffs and geopolitical shocks.

They also tackle the harder questions: why do most companies still not act, even when the numbers stack up? And what will it take to bring finance, governance and the boardroom along for the journey?

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