IARC 2023 Transcripts - 16 JOS

Are the cars that include electronic components, easier or harder to adapt to the circular economy.

Uh, I’m not sure I. Maybe repeat the question slightly differently. Would you rephrase the question and give it to me again?

Are the cars that include electronic components like radio, like GPS and things like that, or system systems easier or harder to adapt to the circular economy than regular cars? Conventional cars?

Probably harder. Because the because of the components in the individual cars. And I believe you can get this directly from the menu from the OEMs. The the cost of getting one specific element may be extremely difficult and it may be in some cases aren’t even safe for the health and safety of the worker. They’re best left in the car and then downstream and the the disassembly or the, the systems themselves will extract those components that may only exist in an instrument panel or whereas copper is probably, I think, 16, 17 pounds of copper are in an automobile. So some of that’s in the cabling and the firewall of the cars and the instrument panels, but basically mainly in the. The cave, the cabling inside the car that is just allowing the not so much the disassembly, but the stripping of rubber off of wiring, you know, can’t really effectively be done by hand. But you have to you know, there were acids or ways to kind of melt. become the raw metals. It’s a more effective way to get get to the metals.

What do you think can the automotive industry do to promote circular economy?

Um, I think education would be an important, important one that I think in the waste industry, educating the public. Take an aluminum can to recycle and use the reclaimed aluminum compared to making a manufacturing new aluminum and aluminum products would cost significantly more than. Melting aluminum and then reusing it in the production of New.

Another question. Do you have concerns about privacy and personal data stored in a car electronics like GPS?

Um. I think from my position I probably have more concern of things that can be obtained about your personal life. It could be readily accumulated. And and then the individual consumer doesn’t have any control over data or information that may have been in their car. Most of them doesn’t really seem like it would be. You know the best way to get consumer Information, it’s probably be easier just to do a survey. But it does come to mind. The auto sector today is information about where you were in your car, how how fast you were driving. So were you on the telephone? Uh, who who were you speaking to? It’s be. You can let your imagination get ahead of you. It seems like the capabilities there, but it might involve a ridiculous amount of effort to obtain the data.

Does recycling and reusing mean different things to you?

Yeah, I think the remanufacturing and recycling. That’s where I think maybe the market or just individual consumers may be misusing those terms. Recycling will take a car battery, maybe as an example, to recycling of the car battery may mean melting certain components of the battery down so that they can be reconstituted and and used, whereas the remanufacturing may involve removal of components. Seals things in order to attempt to restore the battery to its, you know, individual purpose.

Um, on a scale of 1 to 5, one means not at all concerned and five means extremely concerned. How concerned are you about issues of environmental waste and pollution?

Well, I spent half my life working in that industry to provide good services and kind of applied technology of how to reduce pollution. Uh, so I’d have to say. I’m pretty concerned. Three, three, to, five. Was it with the high five? Five being the highest Is highly got hair on fire? (???) Sort of, I’d have to say at least a four, if not a five.

What, if any, actions do you take in your life to promote sustainability? Mhm.

Well, they think I’m I’ve worked in my lifetime to improve land, landfill design and construction to provide the barriers for channelling pollutants to. A places where they can be treated effectively and and protect in particular, protect from the creating damage to water, water resources. And so it’s really focused on clean water.

What do you think? How much responsibility does each individual have to make lifestyle and consumer choices that help protect the environment?

I think there’s a fair amount that the individual can do if they’re properly educated, but they’re probably rather simple things that are just the way you can conduct your kind of lifestyle. I think back into the late 60s in the United States, there were huge campaigns to stop littering of the roadside. Well, you know, it doesn’t seem like it takes a rocket scientist to, you know, convince someone that the paper paper bag that they just threw out the window that came from McDonald’s, you know, hoped that they could have kept that paper bag in their car until they got home and put it in the garbage can. So it can be collected and treated appropriately. And should a municipality have to create a mammoth waste management program to afford that paper bag with hope not.

Last question. Do you see the circular economy as a local or national or international issue?

Um, well, I typically think that issues like that can be resolved most effectively closer to the source of the problem. Um, but does it make sense that the state, the states or the countries put together model legislation on capturing various types of waste? Um, so I guess I think it’s maybe simply said it’s both and the, the states can provide examples of programs that have been effective in one city, probably should be able to be effective in thousands of cities.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

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