Car tyres shed a quarter of all microplastics in the environment – urgent action is needed
Car tyres shed a quarter of all microplastics in the environment – urgent action is needed
If only there was a highly efficient mode of transporting people that didn’t use tires. Ah well, nothing can be done I guess.
Yes, imagine if there was a fast and safe way of transport. Something like made to run on steel bars in order to reduce friction. I don't know. I'm just imagining, I watch too much science fiction.
My city's metro system uses rubber tyres, :(
I imagine it's still orders of magnitudes better than everyone driving their own car in.
Same with busses. Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good
Brisbane? Their metro is literally a bus 😂 the council are so proud of it too.
Our public transport in Vic leaves much to be desired but at least we have a well developed tram system that reduces the number of tyres in the collective fleet.
We did just outlaw e-scooters which was necessary because the infrastructure and community education wasn't there and it was dangerous. But long term e-scooters do serve a place in a less car reliant community. Bike infrastructure investment is decades behind what it needs to be.
Much like everywhere, the oversized nature of "yank tanks" seems to be a large factor in every single thing wrong with cars and car infrastructure these days.
Smaller, lighter cars don't wear through their tyres as fast 🤷
While there's no doubt tires are bad for the environment, a quarter of all microplastics seems a lot, especially since plastic is everywhere. Gladly there's a source for that claim, a link to tireindustryproject's FAQ... Claiming that this number is a gross overestimation. What the fuck is this article? Is it supposed to be satire or something?
I've seen a similar number in a lot of proper scientific sources, so this article may be bunk, but the number is correct I think.
For example this article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171003 They claim 27,26% in China.
And this article: https://www.rivm.nl/bibliotheek/rapporten/2024-0106.pdf They claim 24.88% in the EU and state it's among the biggest if not the biggest contributor to microplastics.
I'm all for debunking stuff, but about a quarter seems to be the currently accepted quantity to the best of our abilities to measure.
There is a bit of confusion between the amount tyres contribute into the ocean, how much into the ocean and waterways and how much in the environment as a whole. A lot of it ends up in the soil, so it doesn't contribute to plastics in the water, but still in the environment.
That was an interesting read. I guess tyre fragments (and industrial pellets) are just way bigger than the other big offenders, which would explain why they represent such a huge portion of the total mass, and why they are filtered out "easily". Overall it seems to me that we really need to categorize the different microplastics better, as the current definition (anything plastic 5mm and under) seems a bit too large, and with all the mix ups, you can always blame something else.
Bear in mind that the denominator is plastic pollution. Most plastic waste does not directly pollute the environment. If it is not recycled then it goes to landfills or incineration. Not ideal, but at least the damage is contained. (The bulk of ocean plastic comes from the rivers of poor countries without proper waste management.)
The issue with tyre microplastics is that it's all but impossible to channel the waste. It's the same with synthetic fabric: just washing it creates pollution that's really hard to control.
(The bulk of ocean plastic comes from the rivers of poor countries without proper waste management.)
This might be true for places nearer to shore, but studies have found the great Pacific patch to be mostly discarded fishing gear by weight.
So then isn't it 1/4 of a meaningless number? It seems like the specific impacts mentioned in the article (zinc,6PPD) are more relevant.
Tyre dust vacuum car, just add HEPA filter:
Filtering clothes washer wastewater is even easier.
I’ve read arguments that typical plastic pollution never really wears enough to become micro plastics. Not that it’s ok, just that it stays in macro pieces
This is also yet another reason SUVs are bad: bigger tyres, higher weight, more wear, more pollution.
It's also another reason to have lower speed limits: less friction, less wear, less pollution.
You want trains because they are good for the environment.
I want trains because chugga chugga choo choo.
We are not the same.
Why not both?
I learned recently that speed limits are determined by studying the speeds driven and setting them at the 85th percentile.
So what we can do to lower speed limits is to find a place they're doing a traffic study and repeatedly drive over them at very low speeds.
We can lower the speeds driven by putting bushes right next to the lanes. They increase perceived speed.
The other big offender are synthetic textiles btw.
Those reusable grocery bags made from recycled plastic? Disintegrates into dust eventually. And in your household to while it does so.
Use either natural fiber or nylon(more durable and by default, PFAS free).
I use a 40L messenger backpack for my groceries with a cotton bag inside for anything that doesn't fit.
Watch half the people in this sub completely scroll past your comment ignoring the fact that they are contributing to being insane amount of microplastics in our blood currently
Y'all don't stand for shit
And on the other hand, growing cotton uses a lot of water. And wool comes from animals.
What actually is the greenest material to make garments of?
I think hemp would be the best material for clothes, but in most places it's still an illegal plant.
Cotton and wool can at least be returned to the earth naturally. Cotton can be grown places where water shortages aren't an issue.
Personally the greenest option for me is trying to buy clothing made from nature textiles at a second hand store. I also wear what I own until it is basically rags, if a garmet gets a hole or a stain it becomes work clothing for when I'm doing dirty work. Obviously everyone on the planet cannot do that, but as it stands we already waste tons of clothing with fast fashion and many garmets are only worn a handful of times before being thrown away or even never worn or sold at all before becoming trash.
Someone already suggested hemp, but there is also other fibres like linen.
At the end of the day clothing would not be an issue at all, if clothes were made to last and worn accordingly. Unless you work in blue collar jobs, the wear on clothes is minimal and there is no reason why a set of shirts shouldn't last you a decade.
What if we wrapped the tyres in bags to contain all the dust?
Paper bags, obviously
They'd be easiest to recycle.
Can we take the tyres out of the environment?
There's nothing out there. Just water, fish, and 200 tons of crude oil. And a fire. But nothing else.
Sure, just put them in bags.
Action won't happen. In fact, we'll increase the amount of pollution!
This is the way
The factory must grow.
Ahhh ups this is reality. Better don't over do it.
That’s on top of all the brake dust cars spread.
A little asbestos never hurt nobody
(Edit: Nvm. I just looked it up, brake pads no longer use asbestos, which is cool at least)
Brake pads are also moving away from copper. Little improvements over time
so, basically, drive on three wheels and the problem's solved?
If all you bike owners drove unicycles we wouldn't be in this mess
WULRUS WULRUS WULRUS
But electric cars will fix everything. Thats what electric car manufacturers said!
The only thing I see amerikans taking 'urgent action' on is making sure a few select convicted criminals avoid doing any prison time.
Also, we're due for a new high school shooting record. Maybe we can break it this next time.
That’s why this is so important. Now that we’re finally starting to move to electric vehicles and can see a future with no exhaust and much less brake dust, that tire pollution stands out even more.
Electric cars are not here to save the planet, they are here to save the car industry.
it's not fuckbuses or fuck trolleybuses so we should care about this
Lots of things contribute to this. Vehicle weight (extra stress on the tires), wheel alignment (toe-in/out causes scrubbing which causes more wear), unmaintained suspensions (worn out shocks, struts and bushings causing the above), burnouts (obviously, but, even in winter being the guy doing a burnout on summer tires while trying to get up an icy hill or across the intersection still counts), tire compound, road design, and driving style. If we had more cargo trains doing logi instead of long haul trucks we could probably cut down on a lot of pollution both in exhaust particles and tire particles.
Yet another problem not solved by EVs
It's actually made a little worse by EVs because of battery weight.
Not with that attitude.
But the manufacturer and my government said they were eco-friendly, what do you means my 6000 pounds of steel and plastic isn't good for the planet?
Unfortunately this is known since two decades or so. I have learned about it in Uni 5 years ago.
I expect that car and tire manufacturers have been lobbying against this getting more attention extensively. There is no other solution except reducing car traffic.
Reduce car traffic, or...
Tyre dust vacuum car, just add HEPA filter:
Even more road noise. No improvement to car-dependence ruining walkability in cities and bikeability in suburbs.
Vulcanized RUBBER tyres shed PLASTIC microparticles .... hmmmm something sounds very rubbery and not at all plasticky..... i truly wonder what it could be .....hmmmm......
Edit: "Is rubber considered a plastic? Although materials such as rubber, textiles, adhesives, and paint may in some cases meet this definition, they are not considered plastics."
Here is a Scientific study MIS-CONSTRUING Rubber as a Plastic AND MAKING ASSUMPTIONS WITHOUT PROPER EXPLANATIONS !!!!
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5664766/
This is the problem with Scientific studies, Media, Reporting and bunch of people running with studies that make a lot of FALSE ASSUMPTIONS WITHOUT TELLING YOU THE FULL FUCKING STORY.
Tyres are made from synthetic rubbers which are plastics.
Rubber can mean both, natural rubber from specific trees, or synthetic rubber, which is made out of plastics.
Again there is a difference even when you say synthetic rubber,
DO NOT MIX AND CONFUSE RUBBER and PLASTIC.
Rubber === mixture of ISOPRENE and ELASTOMERE polymers ( naturally occurring from Latex/rubber trees but 50% naturally produced and 50% synthetically produced from petrochemicals)
Plastic === mixture of various Ethyl,Propyl,Poly-Propyl Polymers mainly derived synthetically from petrochemical sources ( may or may not be combined with elastomere for rubberized properties).
So MOST MODERN Industrial processes are DIRTY and HEAVILY POLLUTING.
Dont confuse Rubber and Plastic manufacturing and lump it into a single problem unless and until you have definitive and REPRODUCIBLE PROOF THAT PROBLEMS ARE COMMON TO BOTH.
Microrubbers sounds like condoms for guys with unfortunate situations in their pants though
Maybe we need a new study of "Forever chemicals" and "Short-term chemicals" and "Long-lived chemicals" redefined and not use confusing terms like "microplastics" for anything polymerised. DNA is a polymer but we dont call people microplastics.
hi HOW ARE you TODAY?
i'm pretty GOOD MYSELF!!111!!!!!!
I TOO like to RANDOMLY SWITCH TO upper case.
I HOPE YOU RECOVER SOON!
Imagine things being made of multiple components and not one pure component. /s
Imagine confusing Tigers and Lions and claiming BIG CAT micro-pussies are causing problems all over the world!!!
Tigers are different and Lions are different. They are big cats but different species have different habitats and habits.
So dont mix Plastics and Rubbers when they are chemically different and may have different manufacturing processes.
Was that really hard to understand ?
The study linked in the article also says that microplastic and rubber are different. As far as I understood it, they also quoted it wrong.
Exactly. We need more and better peer-reviewed and vetted studies. Is rubber pollution exactly same as micro-plastics? Or is it 80% the same effects? Is it the same effects due to the same chemicals? Is it similar due to the same processes and not necessarily the end-product material ? Many many questions that people don't seem to understand and just blindly trust whatever some "latest study shows ....." bullshit that has been going on for a very long time.
This is the problem with Scientific studies, Media, Reporting and bunch of people running with studies that make a lot of FALSE ASSUMPTIONS WITHOUT TELLING YOU THE FULL FUCKING STORY.
ah, but randos online know the real story. The Caplocks only adds to your authenticity. Look, you're trying to ague about semantics to discredit concerns about microplastics getting in people's blood streams. Within the context of micro particials, there's really not much difference between "rubber" and "plastic" as what makes them unique to each other is their properties when bonded in large forms. Maybe it's harmless or maybe it's this generation's lead poisons, toxoplasmosis, or aspectos. Aspectos, which by the way, is perfectly natural, but still dangerous to humans. Something I have to remind people when they talk about corn oil based plastics. The half life on PLA may be shorter, but research is still being done on how quickly harm happens and what levels harm can occur.
Thanks for the link that argues against your rant. I guess you could salvage it some by comparing the numbers and claiming the plastic component is lower than the main article's numbers in contribution. It would be awkward though if you find out they already separated those number in their math. It also doesn't change the point that a huge amount of pollution in the form of tire wear occurs constantly and isn't going away anytime soon.
would this apply to bycicle tyres as well? also, why is it spelled that way?
Yes, though note that tire and road wear scale with the 4th power of the vehicle weight. If a person on a bicycle weighs 200 pounds and a person driving a car weighs 2000 pounds then the car is going to have roughly 10,000 times as much tire wear (and microplastic shedding) as the bike.
Now consider that people on bikes can even weigh less than 200 pounds and cars can weigh far more than 2000 pounds (I heard of a recent electric SUV that weighs 8000 pounds) and it becomes clear that bicycles are a complete non-issue, relative to cars. An 8000 pound car is equivalent to 6.25 million 160 pound bicycle + rider pairings.
Now consider the effects of 18-wheeler tractor tailors with a maximum weight upwards of 80,000 pounds. These things absolutely disintegrate their tires. If you’ve done any highway driving you’ve likely seen the shredded debris of tires on the shoulder of the road.
Edit: as an addendum I’d like to note that electric vehicles tend to weigh a lot more than ICE cars, by upwards of 1000 pounds. This is one of the reasons I’m dismayed at the rush to EVs: it’s going to accelerate the microplastic problem even as it reduces CO2.
Yes i agree. I have never driven but have been i a car due to medical reasons, but have rode a bike and plan to bike again once im a weight that a bike can sustain (im 370 right now). ive seen thoese tire "husks" on the highway sometimes.
Tires also used to last longer. They are designed to wear out faster now.
This is so far from the truth.
The real reason is cars are heavier. The more weight, the more wear on the tires. You can only make a tire compound so hard before they become uncomfortable rolling chunks.
In the 70s when the fuel crisis hit, cars were very inefficient. Heavy steel and heavy engines that guzzled field. As the technology has progressed we use composite materials to make them lighter where we can. Some of these materials are more expensive than others, so you won't find them on all models. Magnesium and Carbon fiber for example. We started to make cars lighter.
Then there's features, creature comforts, etc. We started adding more and more fancy features over time. These all add up. Heavy sound deadening pads are placed all over the bare chassis. Rip up your car's carpet, underneath you'll find them. They're in the door and behind the dashboard. There's even foam in the A, B and C pillars. We figured out that we can make cars quieter. Now that we can make them quieter, let's add a lot of creature comforts. Power, heated seats and mirrors. Power windows, powered lift gates, and anything else that's powered. These require electric motors. Not sure if you've ever seen these electric motors, but these are actually quite heavy little things. A few speakers is now almost a dozen in many models. Lots of trim pieces that make the car more aesthetically pleasing add weight.
Safety is a huge factor as well. One or two airbags has turned into about a dozen. Extra beams that are used to dissipate energy around you in a crash. My car has 8 alone for just the front driver and passenger.
Got a hybrid or an EV? These absolutely demolish tires because the additional components adds a lot of weight.
Even though we got better at making composite materials and reducing weight where we could, our need for creature comforts and advancement in technology has caused the overall trend for a car's weight to go up. This information is readily available if you'd like to search the Internet.
A set of tires wear endurance has only gone up over time. But because of a car's weight, it reduces its ability. Your driving habits also greatly impact how long your tires will last. Do you have a Rivian or Tesla? Go easy on the acceleration and showing off with the spirited driving. You can make your tires last less than 10,000 mi. Do you add additional weight? How long is that additional weight being hauled around? In other words, if your trunk is full of stuff, clean it out. You're increasing fuel consumption and increasing tire wear.
What? Maybe if you compare an old hard tire with no grip to a modern soft tire with tons of grip. But a modern hard tire lasts as long or longer and has more grip in all conditions.
Planned obsolescence
Wow, now imagine what tractor tires are doing to the fields we grow our food in. Plus the exhaust and tires deposit heavy metals. I have been bitching about this for years. We need drone fleets in fields and to ban tires and exhaust in fields.
The tires aren't breaking down like they do on asphalt. Not the same.
I come from farmers. They are still breaking down and still an issue. They also cause soil compaction. Anyone familiar with farming understands that tractors aren't good for soil
Where have all the steel wheels gone?
They went around smaller steel wheels:
I wish it was pure iron dust wearing off that steel, but no. The flying drone idea seems good, but for harvesting?
Exhaust gas is poison.
The relatively high amount of metal contents emitted from diesel engines strongly suggests that the measurement on the control of metal contents in diesel fuel should be taken in the future.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1352231003006241
As, Hg and Se exhaust emissions were dominated by fuel combustion while Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn exhaust emissions were dominated by lubricant oil combustion.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1352231012006942
https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-know-if-I-have-heavy-metals-in-my-organs/answer/Harri-K-Hiltunen
I think we could eventually do drone fleets for harvesting too, yes. It should be the new standard so we stop poisoning ourselves.
This makes people that harass people with vehicle drive-bys and creepy vehicle stalking just that much more destructive and shite evil.
They might as well go exploit a child to poison a puppy dog like my neighbor the state patrol trooper did.
...wat?
I can't imagine much microplatics are getting chipped off of them. The tires have thousands of pounds of pressure being put on small surface areas when you round corners, where as a plastic bottleneck can dolphin into the water if hit by a large wave and not nearly as much friction placed on it.
How I imagine it
If only there was an alternative.
What if we replace vulcanized rubber with a metal ring 🤔
Maybe it could also run on some kind of metal street, to further reduce friction? 🤔
we could probably manage traffic much easier if switching was controlled vs. random drivers...
To make sure it doesn't destroy the road we could put metal in them also...
Delightfully devilish, Seymour.
I see where you're going. We should all switch to steel tracked Abrams tanks! /jk
We make the tyres solid and the road rubber!
wait, no, damnit
Naah. Propellers!