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Nobody Asked... But Recycled Metals Built Your Car with John Sacco · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  I have never seen a man understand what to order at a restaurant, whether that was the meat selection or the wine selection, more than today's guest, John Sacco. [upbeat music] This is Auto Collabs. Yes. Really?
• 0:17
  Tell me more. The man knows his food, he knows his wine.
• 0:20
  When we were at, when we had, uh, he was on stage, on the main stage at ASOTUCON two years ago, and we go to the steakhouse [laughs] and he orders the lamb chop and he's talking about the wine, I, and I...
• 0:31
  He's just like way over my head, and then not too long, he was like way over, like, the sommelier's head. Done. And I was like, "This guy knows what he..." Oh.
• 0:39
  'Cause he, he, he's in metal recycling, so his clients, he makes these big, gigantic, million-dollar machines that help the metal recyclers, recyclers do all the separation and all that.
• 0:48
  So he's traveling around the world a lot. So he's, like, incredibly- He's just seen it all... knowledgeable in culture.
• 0:53
  And then he says, oh, he's like, he, he tells me about the lamb and he's like, "Yeah, I've gotten that the last two nights, so I can't, I don't think I could get it a third time."
• 0:59
  [laughs] And I realize this is his third time at this restaurant during ASOTUCON. [laughs] May- Wow... do you think maybe that's why he knew so much about it? No. [laughs] No. No. He knew- He was a cultured man.
• 1:10
  He was a cultured man. I had that. He's a cultured man. You know what I like about this guy, and I think we're gonna see it today, is the level of passion around something that nobody knows anything about.
• 1:19
  Like, doesn't consider, doesn't think about. I wanna say I interviewed him at ASOTUCON. I did.
• 1:24
  We did a podcast together, and I walked away from it kinda feeling dumb 'cause I was like, "Oh, this guy knows how the Earth is created," [laughs] you know? It's like- Yeah. [laughs] I was like, "Oh." That's right.
• 1:35
  And I think you're gonna see that level of passion, so hey, why don't we hop into this episode with our pal, John Sacco. [upbeat music] John, since the last time we've talked, you've been a little bit busy.
• 1:49
  You've recorded a whole new, uh, season of the docuseries, Repurposed. This time, um, working with Toyota, like an OEM, which obviously, you know, we were friends before, but now it kind of really piqued our interest.
• 2:02
  [laughs] 'Cause when you were at ASOTUCON a couple years ago, you said, "Yeah, people don't realize that their car is the most recycled thing that they have." And I don't think that- That's correct...
• 2:10
  you know, I don't think people think of it that way. And so you're like, "Watch, watch me show you. I'm gonna do something with Toyota."
• 2:18
  [laughs] Well, it, okay, you know, first of all, gents, great to be here again with you. Um, you, have you guys watched the movie Shawshank Redemption? Yes. Naturally. Yeah. Okay.
• 2:30
  Ab- about every time it's on any TV channel- Yeah, every channel... I'm like, "Let's go." Awesome. Which makes it seven hours long with commercials. Period, yes.
• 2:36
  [laughs] So I, I'm a, it's in my top three, and my son just watched it. He doesn't understand why.
• 2:42
  But anyway, do you remember the scene where Red is up against the parole hearing for the third time, and he finally says to the guy, he goes, "Go ahead and stamp my form, sonny," Yep, yep, yep...
• 2:54
  "because you're just wasting my time." Yep. And you're thinking, "Why would you do that? You're not gonna get paroled." And he gets paroled. Right.
• 3:02
  So I got, I was, I shot at Toyota Tsusho, the, they're, it's a subsidiary of the Toyota Motor Company.
• 3:10
  And I, they go, "Well, let's try again to get you into Toyota," because without filming inside a, a Toyota plant making something from recycled aluminum, there's no show, okay?
• 3:24
  So I got on the phone with them and I finally just said, "Hey guys, you turned me down once, so you're probably gonna turn me down again, but who's the coward?" [laughs] Who, who doesn't wanna tell the story- [laughs]...
• 3:36
  of green manufacturing? I, I, I'm befuddled by this. I go, "It's not gonna cost you any money, and if Madison Avenue came to you and said, 'We're gonna do this four-part docuseries on Toyota and making,
• 3:50
  uh, motors from recycled aluminum,' they'd have charged you $50 million and you would've said, 'Where do I sign?'" So tell me- That's a great pitch. What do you- That's a great pitch... five days later, "We're in." Wow.
• 4:04
  Well, and, and they were like, "Yeah, but they promised us Brad Pitt and we ended up with you." [laughs] [laughs] That's cold. That, that's where you went. Oh. My Italian DNA was like, "I want names. Who's the coward?"
• 4:18
  [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] Can you spell that? Well, it's, uh... Yeah. No. So- But it was really good. Um, so
• 4:27
  they, they agreed, and what was really fascinating about that now is I finally got to tell, tie in the story of how recycled aluminum from a facility like ours in Bakersfield gets to the smelter
• 4:44
  and then gets to the plant right next door.
• 4:47
  And, you know, it's 150 yards apart, and you see these crucibles of molten, I call them big Yetis, of molten aluminum being driven by a forklift over this road, and they pour, they got 60 die casters in this plant in Troy, Missouri.
• 5:04
  They make 10,000 cylinder heads a day. And, you know, it's not as exciting as a steel mill from the, the big flames that you see when they're charging the furnaces. That was pretty impressive. Yeah, yeah.
• 5:18
  This is pretty mundane and boring. But what's really super cool is how Toyota, and when I say they're a green manufacturer,
• 5:30
  think about the reduction in CO2 emissions just for the transit logistics of receiving their raw material to make cylinder heads. Comes over in an electric forklift. Huh.
• 5:45
  Well, talk, talk about what that would usually entail if they weren't all in one spot. Well, if, if you weren't...
• 5:51
  So for, for, for any logistical thing, so any manufacturing plant receiving whatever, um, you have to bring in the raw material. And when you bring in the raw material, be this, take a steel mill.
• 6:02
  Let's, let's compare a steel mill versus Toyota. A steel mill, there's a lot of trucks that go150, 180 miles, 60 miles, and they're coming in rail cars.
• 6:13
  So you got these big massive car- even though rail cars reduce CO2 emissions, 'cause you got five trucks and one rail car. But you got all this transportation up and down a highway.
• 6:23
  It's gotta g- truck's gotta go, dump, go back, empty, fill up, go back. So you got all this diesel back and forth. Rail cars- Yep, yep... back and forth. And, right, so Toyota at, in, in Troy, Missouri,
• 6:41
  with their partnership with their subsidiary, Toyota Tush- To- Toyota Tusho, 150 yards apart, so your forklift just all day is- Has to, has to go between... is forking. Yeah. And- Forklifts.
• 6:55
  Think about the reduction- And this, this is just one part- Yeah... right? Because, 'cause it's not just the one part. It's not just the cylinder head.
• 7:01
  This is, like, a ton of the inner portions, the body of what makes up a Toyota. No, this is, actually this plant is just cylinder heads. Okay. Wow. And here, so, so, so in the Toyota world,
• 7:19
  they're very proud of this. Every Toyota cylinder head manufactured in the world from Bangkok, Thailand to Troy, Missouri, every plant across Europe and Japan, doesn't matter, South America,
• 7:34
  every cylinder head is identical to the model of the car. Be it the Tundra, the Tacoma, the Camry, the, the Corolla, every one, every motor cylinder head's the same.
• 7:49
  They don't have a cyl- a motor that's different in South America and to Asia and to Europe and to North America. They're identical. Mm. So they can scale. So they know what- Easy. Yeah.
• 8:01
  They know exactly- It's interesting that it's-... how it looks. Go ahead...
• 8:03
  it's interesting that you bring that up, because Kyle and I were just at this, uh, kind of like very closed door consortium about, uh, China and the future of manufacturing and the future of powertrains.
• 8:15
  And one of the things that one of the analysts that came up and did a presentation was talking about the, the increased standardization across all OEMs of certain things that make them able to manufacture so quickly and so cheaply.
• 8:29
  You know, right down to, like, windshield wiper blades. There's no OEM spec for a windshield wiper blade. You wanna put a windshield wiper blade on that car? Here it is. It's made in the windshield wiper blade factory.
• 8:40
  It fits on the windshield wiper blade holder. And just, it's interesting to hear how Toyota is already deploying this in something like cylinder heads across all ma- I, I would have never thought that would be the case.
• 8:53
  A- a- a- and no, and I, I, I, I was shocked to hear that because in the end I'm like, w- that is just standardization in their manufacturing pro- So let's say they have increase, um, in the main...
• 9:09
  Okay, th- 'cause that, this is cylinders in Troy, cylinder heads in Troy. Jackson, Tennessee is motor blocks. Uh, you know, transmission housings are made elsewhere. And so, you know, they have, you know,
• 9:23
  all these different components are made from recycled aluminum and not virgin aluminum. I can get into that in a minute, but I wanna stay on the standardization.
• 9:30
  So the unique thing is, is anywhere in their manufacturing world, let's say they have a disruption for natural, from a hurricane or a flood or whatever, okay? You know, disruptions happen.
• 9:45
  They can now bring the same cylinder heads, load containers of cylinder heads from Bangkok, ship them into the US or vice versa, or wherever the hell they needs to go.
• 9:58
  In other words, their diversity of being able to say, "Well, I need to increase the cylinder heads in this part of the world," they're able to do that by saying, "Okay, I need more cylinder heads from this place over here."
• 10:12
  And they don't have to worry about- Do you think that, uh, do you think that level of standardization and efficiency tracks all the way through to, uh, the end purchase price of the vehicle?
• 10:24
  Meaning, here, here's where I'm going with this. So I drive a Tundra. I've had pretty much every major truck brand now. I've had a Sierra, I've had a Silverado, I've had an F-150, I've had a Tundra.
• 10:37
  And, and maybe it was the dealer or maybe- I didn't know that about you, Michael. You didn't know that about me? [laughs] I didn't know you've had every truck known to man.
• 10:44
  I thought this was just something you did when you moved to Texas. No. D- no, it started, it started in- To try to, you know, overcompensate... it started in Alberta, which is extremely northern Texas. Eh. [laughs] Uh,
• 10:57
  but, but, you know, what stood out to me is like, okay, let's say 70 grand for a Tundra compared to one of the other makes.
• 11:05
  What impressed me is, like, my last truck was, was one of, I'm, I don't, 'cause I don't wanna alienate people, but it was one of the other ones. And I'm like, wait a minute.
• 11:13
  For 70 grand in a Tundra, it comes with the safety monitoring. It comes with this big beautiful screen. It comes with the bed, spray-in bed liner already. It comes with the footsteps already.
• 11:27
  It comes with all these things that for the same price in the other brand, I didn't get any of those things. And it came with a gun safe too. Or, or a competing brand.
• 11:34
  And I wonder, does this standardization of manufacturing trickle down to the consumer experience where you just get more value for your money? 100%. Absolutely it does.
• 11:45
  And, and the thing about that is, is the standardization in, in, in all of that allows for, like I said, think a- j- again, think about it. They don't have to re- they're not reinventing the wheel.
• 11:59
  They're not making a model that has this and has this and has this. It's, it, this is it.
• 12:05
  And they're able to, to manufacture on the high level the, you know, the, all the different components they need for that particular model, and that's why-You know, what happens is, is, you know, we manufacture balers.
• 12:22
  And just to give you, every pump on our balers from the Rev1, Rev2, Rev2 250, Rev4, Rev8, I can interchange any pump on any machine. Some machines have more pumps, but it doesn't matter, I did it.
• 12:40
  And, and, and where do you learn that from is really the Japanese and, and, and the Toyota world is called Kaizen, continuous- Mm-hmm... improvement. Got it. How do they continuously improve? And if they're...
• 12:51
  And, and here's the key. Kaizen I thought were big improvements. They're little improvements. What can we do- Mm... a little better here? What can we do better here? What can we do better?
• 12:59
  You know, if you try to be better every day, they were telling me, "Well, that's a Kaizen." Because not every day you can make a major change, but if you can be just a little better every day, that's Kaizen. Yeah.
• 13:10
  And so they have taken this model and, you know, you know, the Toyota manufacturing world, they're renowned for their consulting as well, where they- Mm-hmm. Right... will come in to plant.
• 13:24
  People wanna help manufacture at a more efficient level. They're, they're renowned for it because they understand this. And, uh, now I don't...
• 13:32
  Not a total expert on the Toyo- Toyota total way of thinking, but Michael, to your point of standardization and reducing the cost to the consumer, that's why the value, if you look at what, you know, what...
• 13:45
  I, I was looking online, what does a Corolla go for? What does a Camry? I'm like, I was shocked at how economical the price tag was compared to other brands for the similar- Yeah...
• 13:58
  you know, make or model of a, a vehicle. So obviously there's something to it, because how can they produce a vehicle? Because they have to produce it here in America. A lot of them are made right here in America.
• 14:09
  Well, how are they producing something here in America that everybody says the most expensive place in the world to manufacture, but yet they can offer something at a com- more competitive price than the GMs and the Fords and the others?
• 14:21
  Yeah. So Michael, I wanna- I wanna go back to, 'cause you, you've said like they're a green manufacturer.
• 14:25
  I wanna go back to that because right now the geopolitical, the political, the cultural climate is a lot around, um, electric, right?
• 14:37
  New powertrain, new, new way of thinking, i- you know, production styles, even materials being used in the, in these vehicles.
• 14:47
  Can you juxtapose for us just a little bit on like when you say a manufacturer that is, you know, that is primarily making gas and hybrid engines, lots of hybrid, um, powertrains, is...
• 15:02
  You would consider green based on the entire vehicle process in comparison even potentially to some of the newer manufacturing and powertrain processes? Well, okay, that's a great question. Yeah. So
• 15:20
  green, you know, what is green? Green, you know, that, that, that's a hell of a word and a lot of greenwashing goes on out there. [laughs] Greenwashing is like the bull crap of saying we're green when you're not.
• 15:32
  But Toyota, let's, let's look at the, their...
• 15:37
  Any piece of aluminum from their wheels, transmission housing, differentials, you know, if you get up underneath Michael to your Tundra and you see the Tundra, you know, the, in the, in the, in the, the drive, the, the, uh, train, the, the shaft, that's all aluminum now.
• 15:52
  That is 800 pounds lighter because the, of the use of aluminum. Now the aluminum they use is recycled aluminum because it comes with a... It's easier to alloy up to make the alloy they need more durable.
• 16:09
  Virgin aluminum is far greater in, in expense and you, the additives that you would have to come up with, with from virgin aluminum and the mining of it, there's no way...
• 16:22
  You know, recycled aluminum saves 95% CO2 emissions in the re-melting and 95% of, um, energy consumption versus virgin, okay? So right there and then just the use is dramatically greener. All right?
• 16:39
  So then you got like brakes. Brakes in America are made from 100% recycled, uh, iron. Uh, a lot of the copper in the cars coming from, has a huge amount of cop- recycled copper content in it.
• 16:51
  Now the outer shell of a lot of the cars are going to be from EA, uh, not EAS but from, uh, integrated steel mills that use iron ore. Let's, let's be honest about that.
• 17:04
  But in i- in the steel making of integrated steel mills that make the, the, the steel for the outer, sh- you know, the doors, the hoods and so on, there's about 10 to 15% of recycled steel in that. Wow.
• 17:20
  So when they're putting it all together and some of the plastics that they're using, they're coming from recycled plastics. The, in the, the, in the plant in Troy, Missouri, this, the silicon they're using
• 17:32
  for the molds, so, you know, that do the port, the, they have to put these things in there and what it does is that sand is made from 100%... It's reused over and over and over and over again. Yeah.
• 17:43
  So even when they have a bad motor block or bad cylinder head, that gets recycled, goes right back to the smelter, re-melted and brought back 'cause, you know, through the inspection process.
• 17:54
  So when you start seeing just the sheer amount of the circularity of components that they're using, that when they have scrap out of their plant it goes back to the aluminum smelter or the steel making plant, um, for fenders and hoods it goes back to the steel mills to make new products.
• 18:13
  So they're using... It's real, it's a closed loop recycling. The, their waste metalIt's not waste. I would never call it waste. They're re-residual [laughs] I don't know why I used the word waste. Easy.
• 18:25
  But they're, they're residual. They're a byproduct from manufacturing. Call it, uh, uh, from stampings or whatever, go right back into making the new coils, the new steel, the new aluminums, all that, all that stuff.
• 18:37
  So, you know, versus the electric vehicle that has so many rare earth minerals in it, that has the cobalts and stuff.
• 18:46
  So you are dealing with more virgin metals in an electric vehicle than you are, if you will, in an auto- That makes sense... in a- So it's always new. Yeah.
• 18:55
  I'd like that you just brought up the rare earths, because that's been a super hot topic of conversation in automotive, China controlling this thing.
• 19:02
  It's 90% of the magnets or the availability to manufacture or refine the materials for magnets. And so we were talking the other day and, uh, we did a quick search, and I was like, "Can you recycle magnets?"
• 19:15
  And do you have a thought or perspective on all these rare earths, um, these magnets that are, you know, holding kind of the EV industry, people, some people think hostage, because now China's secured so much of the raw materials.
• 19:27
  Is there going to be a shift and a hyper-focus on recycling these and those being available and kind of breaking down some of that- There, there will be-... some of that monopoly? There will be...
• 19:37
  Yeah, there's going to be- And the real question is- You guys can-... is John Sacco about to become the most important man in the EV conversation? No, not at all. Okay.
• 19:47
  [laughs] Uh, and, and the reason why, and, and, and here's why I'm not, because in the end, rare earths and all the stuff used to be making, uh, EVs, um, you know, the lithium batteries, the lithium that they use there.
• 20:03
  So what, what you have is, is right now the EVs are not designed to be recycled yet. Ah. Okay? Mm. Because the lithium battery, the r- the, the, the lithium batteries,
• 20:19
  just in the auto industry alone, in appliances, the lithium battery is problematic of extracting, like in a cell phone, if you will. Mm-hmm. So EVs, you know, you have a car, it's got these big EV batteries.
• 20:33
  What do you do with it? You know, you, the automobiles die, uh, a internal combustion engine dies by an auto shredder. But what happens with the lithium battery and those materials?
• 20:47
  And, and right now the recycling of all these other materials that are in EVs hasn't quite caught up.
• 20:55
  There's some people starting to do it, but it isn't as easy as it is a, a, you know, just a regular gasoline engine, if you will. Yeah. Easy to recycle, easy to process. Mm.
• 21:05
  Um, you know, and when, when it comes to EVs, the one thing about EVs, you know, they're using, like Tesla, they use a lot of recycled aluminum in their frames. So that's the good news there. The lightweight.
• 21:16
  The lightweighting in any auto manufacturer in the United States is where we're saving CO2 emissions on the MPG. More miles per gallon means less CO2 emissions, so that's good. Sure. Sure. But the electric vehicles...
• 21:29
  See, now the, the other issue with the electric vehicles is the recharging grid. The li- the, the infrastructure to recharging vehicles,
• 21:40
  uh, requires, if we went to all electric vehicle, we, we just wouldn't have enough copper as it is now to... And the power. You know, you gotta have copper- What's China doing about that? Uh,
• 21:50
  I mean, the copper- Well, they don't have that much... from what I understand for it. Well, you know- They don't, hmm... copper's ch- it's a worldwide traded metal.
• 21:58
  Uh, they are, um, they have large inventories of copper, recycled copper. Uh, so that's why, you know, if you look at copper, it's trading over $5 a pound on the COMEX, the Chi- Chicago Mercantile.
• 22:11
  The, look, copper's gonna be in high demand f- as so much electronic things- Yeah... you know, electronic, electric forklifts, electric automobiles. Invest in copper is what you're trying to tell me [laughs] somehow.
• 22:24
  Well, I gotta believe it's gonna be... It's, it's a commodity that's gonna be in high demand because if you think about it, think about all the products. Lawn mowers at golf courses, okay? Take Pebble Beach, right?
• 22:38
  Iconic, right? Well, eventually that'll be robotic EV, it'll be electric lawnmower. Mm. That'll be AI guided to... So- Yeah... think about that. But they're gonna have to charge that. Now they need more power. Mm-hmm.
• 22:54
  Every golf course we got. I'm, I'm just, I'm just using this as an example. Street sweepers.
• 23:00
  Well, as we see the cabs, the, the, the driverless cabs, well now all the street sweepers across America could be electric AI driven street sweepers. Well, now they gotta return home to be charged up every day. Mm.
• 23:16
  So when you, when you have anything that's gotta be charged up, you need more l- you need more copper. It just industry. Now you, a lot of people use aluminum, um, cables now. There's copper cable. Yeah.
• 23:27
  There's aluminum, uh, cable also. So, so as we go to more electrof- electric, you know, your ATVs will go more electric. Now if you think about boats, I mean, there, there'll, there'll be electric motors eventually.
• 23:43
  You know, I got a, a, a, a, a boat that has a, um, 300 horsepower, uh, Mercury, two 300 horsepower Mercurys. Well, one day somebody's gonna figure out how to make those out of electric.
• 23:56
  So think about all the electrification going on. And when you electrify- And it's all dependent on copper... you need one- Yeah... major commodity, and that's copper. So,
• 24:06
  so- Well, we have- Again, I'm not- I'm not even mining. I'm buying bricks of copper right now. Buying it. Just going- You say that again? Right now, that's what he's doing. [laughs] Copper bricks. Michael Pros.
• 24:13
  Someone's gonna need these guys. Bill Pros. That's wild. Uh, well, we have one more, we have one more thing- Bill Frosty... while we have you. We wanna play, uh... W- what did you say?You all froze for second.
• 24:25
  All three of you went... Oh. [laughs] Oh. Got it. Sorry about that. Uh, we wanna play- Can't even hear... we wanna play one more thing for you. I think we have a little delay. Okay. It's all right, we'll figure it out.
• 24:38
  Uh, we wanna play one thing for you and, uh, ask you a, a couple more questions about it. Nathan, roll, roll it. Sure. Without the recycled metals industry, no rebar to build the hospital's foundation, no surgical tools.
• 24:49
  Can't even build this gurney without me. Nobody asked. [laughs] That's amazing. A- all right, so this, obviously, a commercial to, to commemorate the, and promote the launch of Repurpose Season 3.
• 25:06
  Uh, kind of, we, we kind of related to that one, 'cause we see it, and sometimes, like, we'll walk in and, you know, we'll just be talking to, like, the hostess at the restaurant about how great the car industry is, how important it is to the local economy, how important it is to leadership development and community.
• 25:18
  And you know, like, they, they smile and they nod, but really nobody asked.
• 25:22
  Why are you so driven to produce this docuseries into an industry that, you know, the, the pregnant lady on the gurney said, "Nobody asked," right, while her husband's trying to tell her none of that would be possible.
• 25:31
  Why are you doing this? And, and I... Because it's, comes down to the bottom line. Our industry has a terrible image. We're looked at as dirty, dirty, waste, trash, garbage, junk. Mm-hmm.
• 25:46
  All of those are absolutely not what we do. Mm-hmm. And if we don't change the image, if we don't change how we talk about what we do, and, like, the blue states across America don't like our industry. Okay?
• 26:01
  They, they think we're bad. Yet they don't understand without us, they don't live their lives. Healthcare gets- Mm.
• 26:07
  All of that, and that's why we say, "Nobody asked, nobody asked" because I can tell you, and I, and, and when Season 1 came out, Democratic s- Majority Leader in the Senate was Mr.
• 26:18
  Schumer, the Speaker of the House was Kevin McCarthy. Republican, Democrat. They watched a couple episodes, and they said the same thing, "Wow, I had no idea what your industry does." Mm. Wow.
• 26:31
  Because we don't ever teach our kids this. And so when, when I say nobody asked, well, nobody asked, "Well, how's our car made? What materials, where does it come from?
• 26:42
  How about that highway that's being constructed that slows traffic down, but where's that steel coming from?" 'Cause nobody asked. Because nobody asked. In World War II, our industry, we were
• 26:58
  slaughtered for our efforts because our cans are your, are bullets. We were fighting tyranny with the stuff we recycled. World War II, there was posters, "Recycle." You know, "Your, your metal is our cannons.
• 27:12
  Your metal is our ships." Yeah. Why? Because we were fighting tyranny. We went from the heroes to persona non grata in a couple decades. Wow. Yeah, and it's like, but we still produce- Nobody asks anymore. Yeah. Yeah.
• 27:28
  But you're just as important still. So nobody asks... Say again? But you're just as important still. I'll say that again. But you're just as important still.
• 27:35
  I, I, I would argue we're the most vital industry in America because without us, there is no healthcare, there is no farming, there is no auto industry.
• 27:45
  In recei- in, in Season 3, they flat out tell you, you cannot make one automobile today in America without recycled aluminum, and that's all manufacturers. Wow. Sounds so familiar. [laughs] I'm embarrassed. I feel it.
• 28:00
  I feel it. Think about that. Not one, so why am I running with this? Because nobody's asking the question. I got a fun one with a guy on an airplane.
• 28:09
  So I, I got, it's starting to come out now, all these ideas- Did you say you got a fight with a guy on an airplane? No, there's a guy on a flight. Oh.
• 28:18
  [laughs] He, he, he, it's, it's another one like that where the guy's talking to this lady, "You know, without recycled metals, the aluminum for this aircraft wouldn't be made, and for the, without copper, there won't be the electronics to run this aircraft.
• 28:29
  And for that matter, no rebar for the runway we're gonna land on, or the steel for the jetways in the airports." She looks at him, "Nobody asked." [laughs] And that's the problem. That's the problem. Nobody's asking.
• 28:42
  She's like, "We wouldn't be in a- So we, we, we-... in a steel can flying across the world without the, without that industry." That's wild. That's wild. But think about this.
• 28:51
  Well the- Every kid who takes chemistry, this is important to me, every kid who takes chemistry in high school always says the same doggone thing. What do they say? "When will I ever need this?" Right? True.
• 29:03
  Well, if you get a job in the aluminum smelting industry- That was me...
• 29:06
  the steel industry, the copper industry, you gotta know your periodic tables because you gotta see when you're doing the metallurgy in a steel mill, an aluminum foundry, a copper foundry, you're saying, "Okay, well, I got X amount, 000.1% moly in this.
• 29:20
  Okay, that's acceptable." So now you gotta know. So if, if our educators would teach our kids, "Hey, let's build a bridge. We need steel. Let's go to steel, and let's look at the periodic table.
• 29:33
  Here's all the elements that go into making steel." Wouldn't kids go- And here, here's how we actually use that. Yeah, yeah. Yep. It's an totally different look. Your car that you drove to school in today.
• 29:43
  And see, and that's what I s- my point is, nobody asks. You think a kid gives a flying rat's ass that the hospital they were born in, it starts with recycled steel with rebar? Do, do, do they even know?
• 29:55
  Again, nobody asks. Nobody tells them. Yeah. Mm. So that's why I'm doing it. Well, hey, it's a, it's a- I don't get passionate about this.
• 30:02
  I, I, I get, you know, you guys hit a button- We can tell you don't care at all... but really- Hey, I love it. Yeah.
• 30:07
  [laughs] I love the passion, like, came right through at the end, and, uh, and, and the fact that you're doing the whole series.
• 30:14
  You're, you, you know that funding it, uh, changes, changes an industry, but also, uh, the way that you're going about it is, is amazing. I'm glad we got to chat, talk to the auto industry, talk through steel.
• 30:24
  We went, we went a million different directions. John, it's always a pleasure hanging out with you.Uh, it's a pleasure to be with you guys, but, you know, let's, let's get, let's, let's settle on one message.
• 30:34
  Without recycled aluminum, you cannot build one automobile in America today. Not GM, Ford, Toyota, you name it. You can't build one without recycled aluminum. That's right. And that is a true- And go learn all about it.
• 30:49
  Repurposed, season three- Season three... available now on Amazon Prime. Yeah. Not yet. Not yet. When? When? Not quite yet on Prime. When? It's on, uh, it's on YouTube. Oh, good.
• 31:00
  Uh, it'll be probably a couple, three weeks. Trust us. We know how that goes. But here, here's the point, here's the tagline. Recycling aluminum, driving the US auto industry. Let's go. Hey, let's go. Let's go.
• 31:13
  [laughs] Awesome. Thanks, John. Gentlemen, it's a pleasure to be here with you. You keep doing what you're doing. I love what you guys do. Keep playing those guitars and have a little fun, all right? Will do.
• 31:26
  [upbeat music] All right. Look, if you weren't watching that podcast- [laughs] Take yourself the time. Go near the end, about five minutes to the end. We played a video. It's, has nobody asked.
• 31:42
  You have to watch it because it's one of these things. It's, it's clearly AI generated, right? But- I don't think it's clearly AI generated. You don't think so? No. I think that if- I think it was. For us, maybe...
• 31:52
  I think if you didn't say that, I think if you didn't say that, no one, well, uh- No one would've known. Okay. Yes.
• 31:57
  So it was AI generated, but the level of thought behind putting together a campaign like that, and I think that, that the reason why we love talking to John is because we, there's so much similarity in what auto is.
• 32:12
  The c- the connective tissue to everything that happens in our country, the level of GDP associated with selling and servicing a car.
• 32:21
  Like, those two pieces, and the spider web of it going out, similar to the steel industry, the recycled metals industry, so intense. And, like- So true... to hear his passion c- Yeah... ramp after that was insane.
• 32:34
  You know what, you know what frightened me a little bit, actually? In his passion, he revealed, tell me if I, I heard this. I wrote this down. That he, A, knows, uh, it seems quite well, legislators on Capitol Hill.
• 32:49
  I think he does, yeah. Yes. And revealed that they have no clue the delve- Well, listen... of- That, that, that part didn't surprise me as much That doesn't surprise me at all.
• 33:01
  [laughs] We were talking to, we were talking to- I didn't say it surprised me, I said it frightened me. Frightened you. Okay, that's fair. That's true.
• 33:06
  There's people making laws and regulations who have not even asked the most basic question about the thing that they're legislating.
• 33:13
  Well, I think that's, that's one of the reasons that NADA works so hard to be on the Hill, and why it's so important that auto dealers get involved with the legislators.
• 33:21
  'Cause oftentimes you have a legislator who is, you know, when you have an industry specific topic like automotive- Yep... for instance. Yep.
• 33:29
  There is, there is an aide who is advising the legislator on the, the topics- Right, right... on the issues, and that aide oftentimes in Washington DC is like, "Oh yeah, I've never actually bought a car." Mm.
• 33:43
  That actually happened to us. Wow. And we were talking to somebody, they're like, "Yeah, like being honest, I've never bought a car." Never bought a car. Yeah, I mean, who are we talking to? But you're advising policy.
• 33:51
  It's like, who's your favorite? He's like, "I don't know, I like Carvana," [laughs] right? Yeah. Who, who are we talking to- "They seem to have the most commercials"...
• 33:56
  where they're like, they were like, "There aren't any, there aren't even any EV chargers at the capital." It's like the same people that say we should outlaw 18 wheelers. We should outlaw these things.
• 34:07
  It's like, well, you realize that if we did that- That's how you get your groceries, Ben... you wouldn't have any of the stuff that you have right now. [laughs] It's amazing.
• 34:16
  Well, hey, we hope you enjoyed that conversation. We certainly did. You can hear the passion b- behind John. Go check out Repurposed- Yes... on YouTube right now.
• 34:24
  You can find it on, uh, if you're listening to this a couple weeks later, you can probably find it on Amazon Prime Video, uh, where you can find More Than Cars, our docuseries as well. Nice. On behalf of Paul J.
• 34:36
  Daly, Kyle Malseer, and Michael Cirillo, I'm leaving him last 'cause he's amazing, thanks for joining us on Auto Collapse.
• 34:44
  Sign up for our free and fun to read daily email for a free shot of relevant news in automotive, retail, media, and pop culture. You can get it now at asotu.com. That's A-S-O-T-U.com.
• 34:56
  If you love this podcast, please leave us a review and share it with a friend. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
• 35:03
  [upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collapse. Welcome to Auto Collapse. [laughs] Are we recording? Are we rolling yet?
• 35:22
  Not yet.