Concerned about microplastics? Research shows one of the biggest sources is car tyres

A lot of the emphasis on reducing microplastics has focussed on things like plastic bags, clothing, and food packaging.

But there’s a growing body of research that shows one of the biggest culprits by far is car tyres.

It’s increasingly clear that we simply cannot solve the issue of microplastics in the environment while still using tyres — even with electric-powered cars.

"Tyre wear stands out as a major source of microplastic pollution. Globally, each person is responsible for around 1kg of microplastic pollution from tyre wear released into the environment on average each year – with even higher rates observed in developed nations.

"It is estimated that between 8% and 40% of these particles find their way into surface waters such as the sea, rivers and lakes through runoff from road surfaces, wastewater discharge or even through airborne transport.

“However, tyre wear microplastics have been largely overlooked as a microplastic pollutant. Their dark colour makes them difficult to detect, so these particles can’t be identified using the traditional spectroscopy methods used to identify other more colourful plastic polymers.”

https://theconversation.com/check-your-tyres-you-might-be-adding-unnecessary-microplastics-to-the-environment-205612#:~:text=Tyre%20wear%20stands%20out%20as,rates%20observed%20in%20developed%20nations.

"Microplastic pollution has polluted the entire planet, from Arctic snow and Alpine soils to the deepest oceans. The particles can harbour toxic chemicals and harmful microbes and are known to harm some marine creatures. People are also known to consume them via food and water, and to breathe them, But the impact on human health is not yet known.

““Roads are a very significant source of microplastics to remote areas, including the oceans,” said Andreas Stohl, from the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, who led the research. He said an average tyre loses 4kg during its lifetime. “It’s such a huge amount of plastic compared to, say, clothes,” whose fibres are commonly found in rivers, Stohl said. “You will not lose kilograms of plastic from your clothing.””

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/14/car-tyres-are-major-source-of-ocean-microplastics-study

“Microplastics are of increasing concern in the environment [1, 2]. Tire wear is estimated to be one of the largest sources of microplastics entering the aquatic environment [3,4,5,6,7]. The mechanical abrasion of car tires by the road surface forms tire wear particles (TWP) [8] and/or tire and road wear particles (TRWP), consisting of a complex mixture of rubber, with both embedded asphalt and minerals from the pavement [9].”

https://microplastics.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s43591-021-00008-w

#car #cars #urbanism #UrbanPlanning #FuckCars @fuck_cars #environment #microplastics #pollution #plastics

  • ColeSloth
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    4 months ago

    Even small pure evs will wear out faster than a small ice or hybrid, but it would still be a huge help if they sold smaller ones.

    Of course the issue is that smaller range EV’s aren’t all that wanted except as a second vehicle for short trips. If you have a short range EV it won’t work as a complete replacement, so you then need two vehicles.

    • LovesTha🥧@floss.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      4 months ago

      @ColeSloth @CubbyTustard I checked my movement history for the last few months. The furthest I went in a car in a day was 80k. If we look back over the entire year 160k is the furthest.

      A small EV with 100k range would be a fine second car. A full sized sedan EV as the primary car with 200k range would be sufficient.

      Any trip that is further than that should prefer to use rail for the bulk of the travel, hiring a car at the far end if needed (most holidays I’ve taken haven’t needed a car)

      • ColeSloth
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        4 months ago

        You’re European. How your country is sized and built is vastly different than what is capable right now in the US. Heck, I drive 90 miles (so like 145 KM ) each way to work a couple times a week. Stuff is spread out differently when your country is just the size of a US state.

        • PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          4 months ago

          Your decadent lifestyle shouldn’t have ever been normalized. Your neighborhood likely should have never been built. And the hundreds of miles of road network that you use weekly doesn’t need to exist.

          • LovesTha🥧@floss.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            4 months ago

            @ColeSloth Victoria, the state I live in, is the same area as Minnesota, with a few more people (5.7 V 6.8 Million), but not enough to skew the population density by much (their densities are listed as the same on Wikipedia)

            The actual difference is that we have neglected our PT less than America has, but we have both neglected it. The US has less excuse for bad inter city rail because your density is much higher than Australia’s (USA: 35, Australia: 3 people / square km)

        • TransitBiker@urbanists.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          3 months ago

          @ColeSloth @LovesTha My friend, this has been debunked many times. Please stop propagating auto industry propaganda. The US is not “too big” for public transportation. We choose to prioritise automobiles & car-centric infrastructure. It’s a choice.

          • ColeSloth
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            3 months ago

            The US is most definitely too big and too spread out for complete or even close to complete public transportation. It’s only viable going from large city to large city and within a city. The US would need a complete redesign for public transport to work for a lot of people. Not to mention the lack of time people have and that it can ad an hour to a trip that’s 20 minutes by car.

            • TransitBiker@urbanists.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              3 months ago

              @ColeSloth i’m sorry, but you have no idea what you are talking about. You’re literally parroting incorrect automobile and highway lobby talking points. The US interstate system is the worst thing to ever happen in terms of economy, equality, and ecology on top of the nonsensical logic going on here. I encourage you to seek out urbanist and transit planning YouTube and Twitch channels & educate yourself on the facts.

              • ColeSloth
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                3 months ago

                And I’m sorry, but as someone who lives in a smaller city and outside city limits where it’s more affordable, driving to a city, paying to park, taking a bus or train to go to another city and taking a bus to get where I need to go in that city is expensive and wastes loads of time and money. What you want only works if you live in a big city (which costs loads more) and can do everything you need to do almost all the time while staying in that city. Highways are also a requirement no matter what for commercial transport and time sensitive needs. You think things like emergency organ donations have time to take a train without a highway? Or ems transport for patients?

                • Epistatacadam@toot.wales
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  3 months ago

                  @ColeSloth @TransitBiker I don’t live in a city. And certainly not a big one. I use a bus or train to get into the nearest city. Bus 30 minutes, train 15 minutes , car 45. Longer at peak times except train of course. Car is most expensive, petrol tax, parking etc. bus cheapest. I can even take a train to London airport for international travel, and I don’t live in England. ,🙂

                  • ColeSloth
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    3 months ago

                    Wanna know how different things are in the US? Two times a week I drive to work from my little city. It’s 180 miles (not kilometers) round trip. Even if where I lived were big enough to warrant any sort of bus network to get to a train, I’d still not be within a walk of a bus stop. And no train would get close enough to where I work, so that would mean another bus. Literally wouldn’t work. Y’all can’t really fathom how the US is built unless you actually came to the US and drove/got around anywhere outside of the major tourist cities. Most of the country isn’t like NYC or Orlando.

              • PedestrianError :vbus: :nblvt:@towns.gay
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                3 months ago

                @TransitBiker @ColeSloth You don’t even need modern day urbanists to interpret for you. Just look at a historical map of streetcar lines basically anywhere in the eastern US, or take a walk around a small US city or town that was mostly built out before the automobile era and didn’t get demolished to build a freeway.

        • PedestrianError :vbus: :nblvt:@towns.gay
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          4 months ago

          @ColeSloth @LovesTha If you look at a historic section of any US city that survived the urban highway building/neighborhood destroying boom of the mid-late 20th century, you see development patterns more similar to Europe than to modern US suburbs & exurbs. Sprawl hell is a recent invention that was built on purpose and can (must) be dismantled on purpose.

    • Exocrinous@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      A short range EV has a lot more range than my bicycle, and my bicycle goes plenty far enough for my daily needs.

      • ColeSloth
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        You can get a rebuilt engine for $3,000 and pay someone $2,000 to put it in (overestimate, really. Motor swaps take like 5 hours to actually do).

        Your large EV battery will cost you triple that or more. Plus they go through tires much faster. But hey, you save on some $40 oil changes, I guess.