So my name is 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 you do this and you change your mind 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 information. If you agree, then please tell me your first name and that you agree.
I’m Julian and I agree.
Thank you, Julian. So the first question can you define a circular economy in your own words?
A circular economy is I think it’s if you have make a product, then at the end of the lifetime of this product, you then are able to reuse all the different parts of this product in, for example, the same product or in any other product. I think that’s that circular economy, in my words. Yeah.
Do you participate in a circular economy yourself in any aspect of your life.
Personally or from my company. I mean, our company is a producer of sensor based sorting machines. So so we are one of the key players in circular economy, I would say, because we we are able to separate different types of of waste or secondary raw material. And that’s why we are also participating in circular economy. Yeah.
And private?
Yeah of course I’m I’m, I’m trying to separate the waste as good as possible and and I’m trying also to, to buy used products to not only always have to buy new things as well. Yeah.
How did you become interested in the circular economy ideas and practices.
I mean I think it started as a young age already. If you see the documentations about the pollution of the earth and everything. So that that kept me thinking and, and so this, this was the starting point because I then studied in school and, and I used an environmental energy engineering part and yeah, that’s, that’s what kept me rolling. Yeah.
In your opinion, can a circular economy be implemented in individual sectors or industries?
Yeah, of course. I think it not only can be implemented, it has to be implemented in future because the raw materials will we have not endless raw materials and on our earth. So we we will have to use the the already used materials at some point of the time and and therefore it it has to be implemented rather sooner than later. Uh.
Do you think the circular economy already exists in the car industry?
Yeah, to a certain degree it already exists. So what’s our main infinite material for? For our machine is, is the so-called silver materials or the non-ferrous metal mix from car shredding. And. And this is already been processed by our machine and sorted into different grades of metals. And I think also in some some other parts such as plastics and and the batteries, for example, these are also right now already in in circular economy I think.
Yeah. Do you currently own a car?
No.
Have you owned a car?
I have a car together with my girlfriend. Yeah.
Which kind of car is it?
It’s an Peugeot 206. So it’s small one.