Freddie Colton
The Micro mouses chassis houses a variety of electronic and mechanical components all of which have an associated carbon footprint. For example, raw materials had to be extracted from the earth which required machinery burning diesel fuel, the machinery itself also has its own carbon footprint in in its construction. After the raw materials were extracted they will have been transported in vehicles and refined in carbon heavy factories. The refined materials will then have been assembled in other factories to produce the components which then had to be shipped to our laboratory. Clearly there is a long trail of carbon emissions and consumption of raw materials associated with the components used in Micro mouse. For this reason, at the end of the micro mouses lifespan these valuable components cannot simply be discarded
After our projects completion and the micro mouse is no longer needed it will be disassembled and its components recycled through various methods. Firstly core electronic components like the Arduino, battery and the motors can simply be inspected for defects and then returned to the labs inventory for future teams to use. More fundamental electrical components like the PCB and resistors will have to be sent to recycling plants where they will be processed and broken down into their raw materials which can be used in new components. This has a massive impact on our carbon footprint as it spreads the carbon heavy process I described earlier over several component lifecycles.