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 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, please tell me your name and that you agree.
I’m agreeing and my name is Mara Klarna.
Mara. Mara. Okay, Mara. So the first question, can you tell me a bit about your educational and professional background and interests?
Of course I can. So I’m working for Delo. Industrial adhesives is a Germany or a German company we’re doing or we’re manufacturing adhesives also for renewable processes. And we’re thinking about sustainability. And from educational view I’m a chemist, so I have a PhD in chemistry. And now I’m working as a product manager for Delo.
And what is your area of expertise?
My area of expertise. So when I’m talking about adhesive it’s adhesion curing adhesive. So mainly the heat curing ones and also conductive adhesive. That’s why I’m here at the reshape for Flexible electronics.
Mara, 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? I think it’s a lot of innovative stuff for starting from devices. But also when you’re talking about renewable and sustainability, I’m thinking of sustainable processes. For example, we want to get the heat curing materials out of the market and replace it with room temperature curing methods so that you need less energy. And the CO2 footprint of the companies get reduced by manufacturing their devices. Okay.
What do you think is the relationship between electronics and sustainability?
Oh, that’s a huge question. It’s basically everything. I think you can reduce it. So with so many devices, the CO2 footprint of like everything. So thinking of medical electronics to. Everything. It’s nearly everything I would say. So you can reduce a lot of waste by sensors by doing smart factories? Yes.
Could you define a circular economy with your own words?
Oh, it’s difficult, I would say so. We are also in this business, for example, with E-motors. I think it’s a huge business to recycle all the materials in an e-model, but I’m not sure how it will work in the future because you have the manufacturer, then you have the person who buys the car, then you resell it and resell it and resell it. And in the end, it’s far away from the manufacturer. So I’m not sure how this cycle can be closed, but if it’s closed, it’s super interesting to get the materials back into the cycle.
Um, do you participate in a circular economy yourself, in any aspect of your life?
Uh, the first thing I was thinking about is with smartphones, you get a new one and you trade in your old one. So I think that’s the easiest way of recycle anything. Or also food. Boxes, coffee cups. So that’s in my personal life. But thinking of adhesives again, um, we do adhesives for temporary bonding so you can bond some structures and then you have a trigger and you can debond it on demand. And for this you can use it in recycling materials but also in the process. So when you, for example, put dyes on a chip and you do it wrong, then you have the possibility to put this trigger on and then you can replace it again.
Do you think electronics can play a role in making the car industry more sustainable?
Yeah of course. So although again thinking of sensors or manufacturing processes I think electronics is doing a lot there. Yes.
Do you think electrons can play a role in what can the automotive industry do to promote circular economy, in your opinion?
It’s again the same point. I would say they have to introduce concepts, how they take back the components so that you have the possibility to bring it back to the manufacturer. I think this there is no structure right now for this.
So I think the automotive industry is already doing things like that.
They are thinking of it, I would say, but I do not know any concept of this. I think it’s in a very, very early stage.