<
https://theconversation.com/check-your-tyres-you-might-be-adding-unnecessary-microplastics-to-the-environment-205612>
"Cost-saving measures are key in today’s economic climate. But they can also
have a positive impact on minimising your environmental footprint. A prime
example is maintaining your cars’ optimal tyre pressure.
Over time, tyres naturally lose pressure – typically by around 1 psi a month.
As pressure decreases, the tyre becomes flatter, causing increased friction
between the road and the tyre itself. This heightened friction results in
greater drag, reducing the lifespan of your tyre and meaning more fuel is
needed for travel.
But driving with flatter tyres also increases the number of tyre wear particles
that are released into the environment. These particles – less than a
millimetre in size – have been classified as microplastics due to their
chemical makeup.
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.
To understand the extent of tyre wear pollution, scientists have instead had to
figure out ways to identify the chemicals that are associated with tyres in
water samples. Using these methods, tyre wear chemicals have been found in 97%
of river and estuary samples tested in Europe, the US and Japan.
And yet, we still know relatively little about the effects of tyre wear
pollutants on the health of marine animals. This is what my colleagues and I
set out to discover in a recent study."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
