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 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 and no longer want to participate, get in touch with us and we will immediately remove your interview from the repository. I’m leaving your information sheet with contact information, so if you agree, please tell me your name and that you agree.
I’m Charlotte Colander and I agree to this. The name was Charlotte Colander.
Okay, Charlotte. So we start the first question. Can you tell me a bit about your educational and professional background and interests?
So I’m a PhD in materials science science, and I work as a scientific researcher at the Research institute, the Hole Center in the Netherlands. And I have my own tech startup.
Right. And what is your area of expertise?
So my area of expertise is materials, materials that are stretchable, conformable, and I’m also an entrepreneur. So that’s also my expertise.
The theme of this conference is the future of Electronics Reshaped. What does the idea of reshaping electronics for the future mean to you?
For me, that means that you have electronics in a way that it’s non-stigmatizing so that you can’t see it. It follows the body shaping the body as it is, and you have a smartness along with you wherever you are, without anyone seeing it. Communication method with you only.
What do you think is the relationship between electronics and sustainability?
Um, relationship between electronic and sustainability. We are in a we live in a world where we throw away a lot of things, and we need to have more and more smart devices around us, things that I can measure and monitor what we are doing, and we have a feeling that we most have to be thrown away. We have to change that mindset so that we can recycle, reuse or recycle the materials, either reducing the devices totally in a way or recycling the material in the easy way in order to. And we do that in other ways than just burning it. So if we can, in a smart way, have methods that we can separate the materials afterwards or we work with biodegradable materials, I think that’s a way forward to go to. Yeah.
Can you define a circular economy in your own words? What is circular economy?
So in my tech startup we work in fashion and smart fashion, and their circular economy is to reuse or have every item used a second time working more on business models or subscription models for examples. Yeah.
Do you personally participate in circular economy in any way in your life?
That’s a very good question. I do not do the research in their personal ways. I do buy second hand wherever that’s available, and I use renewable energy resources. I think that’s great.
Do you think electronics can play a role in making the car industry more sustainable?
Yes, yes. If we can go away from the metal cabling as it is today, as we’re using enormous a lot of metals, scarce metals as well, and replacing that with materials that can be reused, that are lighter weight. Yes, definitely. And that’s needed in the car industry.
And about electronics. Can they make the automotive industry more circular. What do you think?
Can electronics. I don’t know, honestly. Can electronics make a car industry more circular? I’m not sure about that. Yeah. Good question.
What can the automotive industry do to promote circular economy? Um.
What is very difficult in automotive, especially for new things, is all regulations, which make sense, of course, but it also makes it very difficult to come in with a new material. So maybe to have a more of a test setups, exploring new ways of making automotive sector cars in a different way and making them mature, that could maybe help if the automotive sector would.