Circular Logistics as a Competitive Advantage: Rich Bulger on Turning Returns, Trade‑Ins, and Donations into Sustainable Profit

Founder & CEO of All Things Circular | Host, All Things Circular Podcast | Chief Circularity Officer, RGX| Former CEO, RecirQ | Author of Going Circular | Former Head of Reverse Logistics at Cisco and Verizon | U.S. Army Veteran | Gartner Award Winner | Circular Economy Strategist | Reverse Logistics Pioneer Rich Bulger didn’t start in supply chain, he started in uniform. As a soldier in the U.S. Army from 1996 to 1999, Rich developed the discipline, systems thinking, and executional rigor that would quietly shape the rest of his career. What he learned in those early years like structure, accountability, and service would later become the foundation of how he built global logistics systems that serve both the business and the planet. After his service, Rich began a humble, part-time job at Verizon, not knowing he was stepping into what would become one of the most influential roles in retail logistics. Over the years, he rose through the ranks to become Verizon’s youngest-ever Director of Reverse Logistics. But it wasn’t just about the title. In 2009, Rich launched Verizon’s first retail trade-in program, a move that seemed operational at the time but ended up generating over $1.6 billion annually, outperforming even the company’s accessory sales. In doing so, Rich transformed what was once a back-office return process into a profit-driving engine and laid the groundwork for modern retail reCommerce. This success caught the attention of Cisco, where Rich took on a new challenge: turning a global reverse logistics operation from a cost center into a revenue center. His efforts didn’t just optimize flow, they rewired strategy. Under his leadership, Cisco’s reverse logistics arm became a benchmark for excellence, earning three Gartner Supply Chain awards. It was here that Rich’s influence went global, showing how circular systems could scale without breaking the operational backbone of a Fortune 100 tech company. But Rich wasn’t done. In 2018, he took the leap into the entrepreneurial world, becoming CEO of RecirQ, a reverse logistics and circular economy startup. Over the next five years, he scaled it from $27 million to $116 million in revenue, driven by a vision of circularity-first infrastructure, modernized warehouse systems, and education that uplifted an entire industry. RecirQ wasn’t just a business, it was a model for what modern reCommerce could become. True to his systems mindset, Rich didn’t just operate, he studied. In 2023, he became one of the first to earn a Master’s in Reverse Logistics Management from the American Public University System, turning decades of frontline learning into academic rigor. Just months later, in January 2024, he published Going Circular, now a defining read for anyone serious about returns, reuse, and regeneration. Today, Rich wears multiple hats: he’s a Partner at Capital Growth Partners, a Fractional Chief Circularity Officer at RGX, a podcast host (All Things Circular), a speaker, an author, and a relentless evangelist for turning reverse logistics into business growth. But if you ask Rich, he’ll tell you he’s still doing what he’s always done: finding value where others see waste, and building systems that make that value repeatable, measurable, and sustainable.