How This CEO Built a $100M Business From Garbage and Redesigned the Circular Supply Chain | TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky
12/04/2026 | 27 mins.
What if the $2.6 trillion in materials the world throws away every year is not a waste problem, but a supply chain design problem? What if there was a way to capture that value and build a 9 figure empire?
In the Season 3 premiere, Sheri Hinish sits down with Tom Szaky, the founder and CEO of TerraCycle, a company operating in 20 countries that has recycled over 8 billion items the traditional waste system refused to touch. Tom dropped out of Princeton to build a business around garbage. Twenty-five years later, TerraCycle generates nearly $100 million in annual revenue and just announced a Reg A $75 million investment offering to scale its operations further.
In this episode, Tom breaks down why 95% of products have no viable recycling pathway (and why it has nothing to do with technology), why everything is getting less recyclable over time as products get cheaper, how Loop cracked the code on reusable packaging in France while it stalled in the US, and why waste is the least innovative industry in the world, making it the biggest blue ocean for entrepreneurs.
Sheri and Tom share insights on frameworks for circular supply chain design, extended producer responsibility, and the role of supply chain leaders as planetary systems architects. Whether you lead procurement, operations, logistics, or sustainability, this episode reframes waste as a competitive strategy conversation, not an environmental afterthought.
Connect with Tom Szaky and TerraCycle:
Terracycle.com + Tom on LinkedIn + Learn more invest.terracycle.com
Designing for Access: How Supply Chain Thinking Can Fix AI + the Talent Gap
26/03/2026 | 27 mins.
Join Sheri Hinish for the launch of Student Voices, a new curated conversation within the Supply Chain Revolution pod spotlighting standout student and early-career leaders shaping the future of supply chain, sustainability, and innovation. In this debut episode, Sheri sits down with Yaseen Ahmid, founder of Luna, to explore how more human-centered systems can unlock overlooked value in people, communities, and markets.
This conversation moves beyond resumes. Yaseen shares why he sees talent access, circular economy, and Africa-centered systems leadership as part of one larger operating philosophy: redesign the flow, restore agency, and build pathways to opportunity that are more inclusive by design.
Listeners will hear how Luna responds to an increasingly automated and impersonal hiring landscape, why human judgment still matters in talent development, and how supply chain thinking can help leaders rethink access, resilience, and value creation at scale.
Key Insights
• Why Yaseen views careers, circularity, and regional development as one connected systems challenge
• How Luna was built to restore agency in a job-search process that often feels automated and generic
• Why access should be treated as infrastructure, not as a matter of chance
• What global leaders still misunderstand about African markets, innovation, and supply chain potential
• How circular thinking applies not only to materials, but also to where value is created, captured, and shared
• What employers, students, and operators can do now to build pathways that are more fair, practical, and future-ready
What Listeners Will Learn
• How a supply chain lens can strengthen talent systems, sustainability strategy, and community impact
• Why personalized guidance can outperform one-size-fits-all career support when the stakes are identity and opportunity
• How young leaders can balance execution, systems thinking, and ecosystem building
• What it means to design opportunity systems that are both human-centered and scalable
Why This Conversation Matters
The episode frames opportunity as a design question. Rather than treating career access, sustainability, and regional development as unrelated topics, it shows how thoughtful system design can surface value that traditional models often miss.
Who Should Listen
Ideal for students, early-career professionals, hiring leaders, supply chain operators, sustainability advocates, and anyone interested in building more inclusive systems of opportunity.
About the Guest
Yaseen Ahmid is the founder and CEO of Luna, a personalized resume review service designed to help students and young professionals communicate their strengths with clarity and confidence. Across his broader work in consulting, circular economy, and student leadership, he brings a consistent focus on access, agency, and system redesign.
About the Series
Student Voices is a new curated conversation within the Supply Chain Revolution pod featuring emerging leaders whose stories, ideas, and operating philosophies can help shape the future of supply chain.
💬 Follow Sheri Hinish (The Supply Chain Queen®): linkedin.com/in/supplychainqueen
📺 YouTube: youtube.com/@supplychainqueen
📸 Instagram: instagram.com/supplychainqueen
📱 TikTok: @supplychainqueen
🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/supply-chain-revolution
🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/supply-chain-revolution
Decarbonizing Transportation with Precision Data - 10 Big Ideas to Transform Supply Chains for a Regenerative Future
27/02/2026 | 19 mins.
What if the emissions hiding in your transportation network could cost your company millions in regulatory exposure — and you didn't even know?
In this final episode of the Supply Chain Revolution's 10 Big Ideas to Transform Supply Chains for a Regenerative Future, hosts Sheri Hinish (Supply Chain Queen) and co-host James George close the series with a conversation that ties it all together: end-to-end decarbonization powered by precision data.
Their guest is Constantine Komodromos, founder of VesselBot and a Time 100 Award honoree, who built his company after a visit to the Parthenon in Athens changed everything. What began as a maritime optimization platform evolved into a mission-critical data infrastructure company helping shippers understand — in real time — the emissions their carriers are generating, and what it's actually costing them.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why spend-based emissions accounting creates dangerous blind spots for large organizations How one automotive customer discovered €300K to €1M+ in preventable cost exposure from 160,000 tons of emissions they didn't know they had Why 40% container utilization is a fixable problem that saves money and carbon simultaneously How real-time vessel data — including Suez Canal rerouting and fuel consumption shifts — gives shippers an edge in volatile geopolitical environments Why sustainability embedded into daily operations is more durable than compliance-driven initiatives
Sheri connects Big Idea 10 to themes across the series: James Mnyupe's case for CBAM as a business ROI lever (Big Idea 9) and Sophie Beckham's packaging taxation insights (Big Idea 7), reminding listeners that data literacy at every node of the value chain is what makes regenerative transformation real.
Ideas 1 through 6 asked us to envision what's possible. Ideas 7 through 10 showed us how to execute. This is the one that brings it home.
How Clean Energy Powers African Industrialization: Sovereignty, Partnership, and the New Value Chain - 10 Big Ideas to Transform Supply Chains for a Regenerative Future
30/01/2026 | 33 mins.
"Be careful about trying to solve 2050 problems with 2025 technology," says James Mnyupe, former Namibia Senior Economic Advisor and Green Hydrogen Commissioner. Join Sheri Hinish, the Supply Chain Queen®, and co-host James George for Big Idea 9 of the Supply Chain Revolution podcast exploring how clean energy actually powers industrialization in practice.
This episode is part of the 10 Big Ideas to Transform Supply Chains for a Regenerative Future series and reveals the structural choices, systems thinking, and policy frameworks that determine how African nations own the value chains they create in clean industrialization revolution happening now in the global south.
Featuring James Mnyupe, Senior Vice President for Sub-Saharan Africa at ThyssenKrupp Uhde. James brings rare perspective having architected Namibia's green industrialization blueprint from the government side and now scaling the model across 49 African nations through a European industrial platform. His work spans everything from fertilizer and food security to mineral beneficiation, mobilizing fit-for-purpose capital while ensuring African ownership of technology, data, and manufacturing capacity. His TED Talk on economic diplomacy and industrial policy has inspired leaders globally to rethink development partnerships.
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction to Clean Energy and Industrialization
00:15 - Navigating Geopolitical Tensions in Clean Energy
06:45 - Blueprint for African-Led Clean Industrialization
14:19 - Redefining Bankability in African Terms
25:22 - African Sovereignty and Global Partnerships
29:11 - Looking Ahead: The Future of African Industrialization
Connect with the Supply Chain Revolution
Subscribe for the full "10 Big Ideas" series exploring how to transform supply chains for a regenerative future. Follow the Supply Chain Queen on LinkedIn for additional insights and resources.
Regenerative Work Systems: Bridging Indigenous Wisdom and Modern Skills to Transform Organizations - 10 Big Ideas to Transform Supply Chains for a Regenerative Future
09/01/2026 | 27 mins.
Join the Supply Chain Queen® and James George with Namuun Purevdorj—a leader who bridges two powerful knowledge systems that together can create transformation neither achieves alone.
Namuun brings an extraordinary blend of experiences: born and raised in Mongolia's deeply communal, nature-centered culture, MIT-trained in supply chain management, and seasoned across consulting, Amazon operations, and retail leadership. As someone who grew up learning that wellbeing depends on the wellbeing of people and nature around you - persevering through -40°C winters and seasonal apprenticeships—she offers a unique lens on building regenerative organizations.
Currently leading the eyewear category at Amazon Retail US, Namuun's journey spans sourcing, supplier development, packaging sustainability, network design, and procurement decarbonization. Throughout her career, she's discovered that Mongolian worldviews of interdependence, stewardship, and dialogue pair naturally with analytical training and technical skills. One helps understand people, relationships, and long-term impact. The other helps design mechanisms and make data-driven decisions.
For anyone feeling the pressure to find perfect AI-powered answers, Namuun's story is permission to progress without perfection, to trust in timely human action, and to see supply chains as living networks.
Key Insights:
The Bridge Between Worlds: How indigenous wisdom about community resilience and long-term stewardship complements modern capabilities in data, AI, and digital transformation Progress Over Perfection: The Mongolian saying "even muddy water can put out fire"—why timely human action matters more than waiting for perfect solutions Seasonal Discipline as Systems Thinking: How growing up with nomadic rhythms—spring for growth, fall for preparation, winter for protection—builds natural understanding of adaptive networks Building Capability, Not Just Output: Why the most regenerative solutions focus on strengthening people and systems, not just delivering projects Co-Creation at Scale: How to build solutions with the people who will own them after implementation—from Amazon's supplier-facing teams to retail operations The Interdependence Question: "Who else needs to thrive for this work to succeed?"—a frame that widens perspective and reveals the true system Cultural Translation in Corporate Settings: Navigating the tension between communal, nature-based values and P&L-driven global logistics operations Resilience as Foundation: How harsh climates and seasonal adaptation build the perseverance required for systems transformation
About Namuun Purevdorj:
Namuun is Category Leader for Eyewear at Amazon Retail US. Previously, she led procurement decarbonization initiatives at Amazon, building tools and training for thousands of supplier-facing teams. Her background spans consulting, logistics, and procurement, an MIT master's in supply chain management, and early career work in international economics.
Connect with the Supply Chain Revolution:
Subscribe for the full "10 Big Ideas" series exploring how to transform supply chains for a regenerative future. Follow the Supply Chain Queen on LinkedIn for additional insights and resources.
Supply Chain Revolution®: Sustainability • Innovation • Technology
Where sustainability meets innovation — real leaders, real strategies, real transformation.
At the intersection of people, planet, and technology, Supply Chain Revolution® reveals how the world’s top innovators are transforming sustainability, AI, and supply chain strategy into advantage.
Welcome to Supply Chain Revolution®, the global podcast redefining how we think about sustainability, technology, and transformation. Hosted by Sheri Hinish, known worldwide as the Supply Chain Queen®, this show explores what it takes to build resilient, regenerative businesses at the intersection of people, planet, and technology.
Every episode challenges the status quo — unpacking how innovation, AI, and systems thinking are rewriting the rules of enterprise transformation.
You’ll hear from executive leaders, technologists, scientists, policymakers, and changemakers driving sustainable growth and digital reinvention. Past guests include pioneers from Microsoft, SAP, IBM, Starbucks, Unilever, MIT, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and the world’s most exciting climate-tech startups.
These are the conversations you won’t find in boardrooms or press releases. We go beyond buzzwords to reveal what actually works — and how bold thinkers are making sustainability profitable, scalable, and human.
Listen to learn:
• How to reduce Scope 3 emissions without breaking budgets
• How AI and automation deliver returns in under six months
• Circular-economy models that create new revenue streams
• Digital-manufacturing strategies that eliminate inventory waste
• Carbon-data innovations turning compliance into competitive advantage
• Leadership mindsets redefining value creation for a regenerative economy
Our “10 Big Ideas” series breaks down the breakthroughs reshaping industries — from sustainable finance and digital MRV to supply-chain decarbonization, regenerative agriculture, and AI-powered transparency. Each episode distills complex systems into actionable playbooks that separate market leaders from those still catching up.
No fluff. No theory. Just truth, transformation, and practical insight from people who’ve built real change at global scale.
Whether you’re a CEO, sustainability officer, technologist, policymaker, or student passionate about systems change, Supply Chain Revolution® is your backstage pass to the ideas and people redefining the future of business.
New episodes monthly. Your competition is already listening — and learning.
🔗 Learn more + show notes: supplychainqueen.com
🎥 Watch full episodes + clips on YouTube: youtube.com/@supplychainqueen
💼 Follow Sheri Hinish (Supply Chain Queen®) on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/supplychainqueenLearn more: supplychainqueen.com
👑 About the Host
Sheri Hinish is an award-winning executive strategist, board advisor, and global thought leader at the forefront of sustainability, AI, and digital transformation. Known as the Supply Chain Queen®, she helps Fortune 500 companies, governments, and institutions integrate sustainability, technology, and innovation into how they operate.
She is the Founder of Supply Chain Revolution Global, and previously led sustainability solutions at EY and IBM. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Economist, and Forbes.
Recognitions include Top 250 Leaders in Sustainability (2025), Top 100 Women in Sustainability and Supply Chain (2024), and #1 Supply Chain Leader by Supply Chain Digital. Sheri frequently speaks at COP, NY Climate Week, Reuters Events, and other global forums.
Ireland