Car tires shed a quarter of all microplastics in the environment. Urgent action is needed

Every year, billions of vehicles worldexpansive shed an appraised 6 million tons of tire fragments. These minuscule flakes of plastic, produced by the wear and tear of standard driving, eventupartner accumutardy in the soil, in rivers and lakes, and even in our food. Researchers in South China recently set up tire-derived chemicals in most human urine samples.

These tire particles are a presentant but standardly-neglected contributor to microplastic pollution. They account for 28% of microplastics accessing the environment globpartner.

Despite the scale of the rerent, tire particles have flown under the radar. Often lumped in with other microplastics, they are unwidespreadly treated as a exceptional pollution categruesome, yet their exceptional characteristics demand a contrastent approach.

We directntly need to categorize tire particles as a exceptional pollution categruesome. In our recent international study, colleagues and I set up that this approach would drive more centered research that could direct policies particularpartner scheduleed to mitigate tire pollution. And it could help widespread people better understand the scale of the problem and what they can do about it.

Right now, spreads are greeting in South Korea to talk about the first global plastics pollution treaty. While this landtag concurment is poised to includeress many aspects of plastic pollution, tire particles are exposedly on the agenda. Given their presentant contribution to microplastics, recognizing tire pollution as a exceptional rerent could help unlock aimed solutions and disclose consciousness. This is what we need to includeress this grotriumphg environmental menace.

Hundreds of chemical includeitives

Tire particles tend to be made from a intricate mix of synthetic and organic rubbers, alengthy with hundreds of chemical includeitives. This unbenevolents the consequences of tire pollution can be unforeseeed and far achieveing.

For instance, zinc oxide accounts for around 0.7% of a tire’s weight. Though it is essential for making tires more durable, zinc oxide is highly poisonous for fish and other aquatic life and disturbs ecosystems even in track amounts.

Another detrimental includeitive is a chemical understandn as 6PPD, which protects tires from cracking. When exposed to air and water, it changes into 6PPD-quinone, a compound joined to mass fish die-offs in the US.

Heavy vehicles, more pollution

We understand that heavier vehicles, including electric cars (which have very weighty batteries), wear down their tires rapider and produce more microplastic particles. Car industry experts Nick Magederen and Felix Leach say that, as weight is so presentant to a vehicle’s environmental impact, manufacturers should be aimed with weight-based taxes under a “polluter pays” principle. This could help weightlesser vehicle schedules while motivating devourrs to originate greener choices.

There are many asks we still need to spendigate. For instance, we still don’t understand how far these tire particles scatter, or exactly where they are accumulating. To appraise their filled ecoreasonable impact, we need more detailed directation on which tire includeitives are most poisonous, how they behave in the environment, and which species are most at hazard (some salmon species are more benevolent to 6PPD-quinone than others, for example).

In the lengthyer-term, regularized methods will be presentant to meastateive tire particles and originate effective regulations.

We need global action

Regulatory sketchlabors, such as the EU’s upcoming Euro 7 emissions standard (which aims vehicle emissions), provide a begining point for handleling tire emissions. But includeitional meastateives are needed.

Innovations in tire schedule, such as eco-cordial changenatives to zinc oxide and other materials enjoy 6PPD, could presentantly shrink environmental harm. Establishing a global panel of scientific and policy experts, analogous to ones that already exist for climate science (understandn as the IPCC) or biodiversity (IPBES), could further set up research and regulatory efforts.

Crucipartner, we must categorize tire particles as a exceptional pollution categruesome. Compared to conservative microplastics, tire particles behave contrastently in the environment, shatter down into exceptional chemical compounds, and conshort-term exceptional poisonousoreasonable contests.

With more than 2 billion tires produced each year to fit ever-heavier and more many cars, the problem is set to escatardy. The environmental toll will only incrmitigate unless we determine and aim the particular problem.

Meastateives enjoy weight-based taxation and eco-cordial tire innovations would not only shrink tire pollution but also pave the way for more sustainable conveyation systems. The ask isn’t whether we can afford to act. It’s whether we can afford not to.

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