So I’m Jos and I’m working on research in circular economy and automotive sector. And I would like to know your point of view. If you accept, I’m going to record our conversation, transcribe it and put the transcription with a pseudonym, not with your real name in a repository of text documents that will be used for the research. If we do this and you change your mind later and no longer want to participate, get in touch with us and we will immediately remove your interview from the repository. I’m leaving you an information sheet with contact informations. If you agree, please tell your first name and that you agree.
My name is Sabina and I agree.
Thank you. Can you define a circular economy in your own words?
It’s an economy that doesn’t produce any waste that reuses everything.
Uh, do you participate in a circular economy yourself in any aspect of your life?
I wish the perfect circular economy doesn’t exist yet. I recycle as much as I can, and I consume as little as I can. But the real circular economy is yet to be realized.
How did you become interested in the circular economy, ideas and practices?
I’ve been working in the climate policy field for many years now, so it’s not my core topic, but I watch it with interest. It seems to me to be, in a way, perhaps the more sellable idea than, say, the degrowth economic model.
In your opinion, can a circular economy be implemented in individual sectors or industries?
I’m sure a long way can be walked in individual sectors to a circular economy. But it requires infrastructure and it requires governance, government regulation. So there will be limits to how a single sector can perfect the circular economy by itself.
Do you think the circular economy already exists in the car industry?
Oh, I don’t know too much about the car industry. I reckon not. I suspect not. So for example, the recycling rates for steel in car are, to my knowledge, still very, very low, which is actually a challenge for the steel industry as a whole because it is still required to produce a lot of virgin steel for the car industry rather than recycled steel.
Do you currently own a car or did you own a car?
No, we gave up our car in 2008 and have lived without a car since.
Are you sharing a car when you are in a big city or something?
Yes, we are subscribed to a car sharing scheme, but we actually found that we were using it less and less.
Okay, but when you are sharing a car, what is the first thought when you think about car electronics or electronics in a car? What is the first?
That I think I’m not driving a car but a computer and that cars have a long way have come a long way since I last owned one.
Uh uh, in your opinion are cars that include. Electronic components easier or harder to adapt to circular economy principles than normal regular car?
I don’t know. I would hope so.