If only there was a highly efficient mode of transporting people that didn’t use tires. Ah well, nothing can be done I guess.
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?
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.
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.
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.
What if we wrapped the tyres in bags to contain all the dust?
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.
Paper bags, obviously
They’d be easiest to recycle.
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
My basement Is a nudist resort. good thing no one can see through the egress windows!
You have to wipe those off once in a wile.
I watch you accusing me of the same thing in the other comment, since you probably scrolled past my username. Hypocrite.
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)
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.
Planned obsolescence
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.
Geez, here is another issue for which we’ve known about for 40 or so years that requires “urgent Action” for the past 40 years already
Wake me up when we finally do something
Boomers have categorically chosen apathy in favor of their own self interests since 1970. By the late 90s, they were a wrecking ball.
I disagree. People who live their entire lives being relentless bombarded by consumerist propaganda and pro-capitalist disinformation are not truly free to vote against it, nor were they given the chance. Al Gore cared more about the environment than Bush, but he was still a capitalist that supported car dependency and the military industrial complex.
Given that Gore actually won the election it’s arguable that his concessions towards climate change, that it was real for a start, was the reason the election was close enough for him to lose the election. Voters loved the comforting lie over the hard truth then and they still do.
Especially given the yahoo Trump wants to appoint that doesn’t believe in climate change even in 2024 is pretty damning of our ability to do anything about it.
So you’re absolving “Generation Me” of ever having to think for themselves? The same generation that could have educated themselves for less than the price of new car, and simply chose not to because a high school diploma was enough?
Millennials were just as heavily, if not more propagandized, and yet, as a cohort, we have skewed far from Baby Boomers (ie Millenials are killing x), while retaining the ability to be critical of the systems we have inherited. We are also far more educated and far more in debt. All as a result of Boomers subsidizing their own welfare on the backs of their children and grandchildren.
Baby Boomers collectively failed upward, soaked up benefit after benefit while telling themselves that they deserved their station in life, and then pulled up every ladder behind them.
So, hard disagree.
Which is why replacing First-past-the-post voting is so important. We need to have more then two options.
Democrats believe in democracy right? What’s the hold up blue states?
You might as well just take the long nap.
No ones gonna do anything.
We’re gonna keep wringing our hands about it, desperately shout time is running out…and watch time run out, then shrug our shoulders and go “Welp, nothing we can do about it now”
Got the vasectomy already. I’m all set to become the most unreasonable person in the chaos wastes.
We need to convince billionaires to care. They are the ones who hold all the real political power.
they dont care about anything but their money and the bunkers where they think they’ll hide during the coming man made disasters
nah, guilliotines exist.
we dont actually have to take orders from them.
More realistically like 15 years, but, yeah, same difference in the end.
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.
also, why is it spelled that way?
British spelling of tire is tyre
You mean the English spelling. Its their language
is that why its called the tyburn tree? a phonetic usage of the British language?
Guess science has given up on maglev
I mean just steel on steel solves this too
If only there was an alternative.
What if we replace vulcanized rubber with a metal ring 🤔To make sure it doesn’t destroy the road we could put metal in them also…
I see where you’re going. We should all switch to steel tracked Abrams tanks! /jk
Delightfully devilish, Seymour.
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…
While we’re at it, maybe we could install some powerlines to provide the vehicles with electricity. That way they could run on renewable energy.
And maybe we could connect a bunch of cars together to create some kind of, I dunno, super-car. That way you could move a bunch of people to the same destination in one go.
Guys I just moved to a city and you’re not gonna believe what they have here.
We could call those super-cars “pods” and make millions in investor money!
Or! We propose that their are specific stops where local business could thrive, etc. - Maybe we can simply be funded by governments?
We could put shops at these stops—shop stops! We could also put them within walking distance of houses. Make ‘em really big—I think Japan tried this experiment for a while.
Guys what if we just used trains
Nonono, blockchained AI powered pods!
How are the poors supposed to see my wealth?
What am I, some kind of poor? Ew.
This would also reduce the need for lithium!
Naah. Propellers!
We make the tyres solid and the road rubber!
wait, no, damnit
Sounds like it’ll be rough on the road, but I’m willing to try it! /s
I miss the trains of NJ and NYC so badly, this part of Texas fucking sucks with public transportation. Losing access to a car here has you flirting dangerously close to homelessness. Which is also why I’ll usually give a ride to anyone who asks around here.
it’s not fuckbuses or fuck trolleybuses so we should care about this
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
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.
Daddy I’m so sorry microplastics in your bloodstream are causing your untimely demise…
mic
miiii
Yes Daddy?
they’re MICRO rubbers you ignorant IDIOT
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!
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.
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.
Are you a bot? lol
This is too incoherent for even a bot.
Is that your only retort to being shut down with logic? I love the spirit of this sub but the people in here are so unbearable
Is all of your clothing natural fibers? I guarantee you are shedding pounds of microplastics into the environment every year personally
Got a goretex jacket? You are killing the earth with PFAs
Shut down with logic? My entire comment was about differentiating between natural and synthetic rubbers and he wrote an entire wall of text about how I have to differentiate between natural and synthetic rubbers.
And yes, except for a couple jackets, which I don’t really wash at all, all my clothes, bed sheets etc. are out of 100% cotton. Always have been. My top level comment in this very thread is literally me calling out synthetic textiles. Any other things you want to project onto me?
Tyres are made from synthetic rubbers which are plastics.
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.
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.
Were guys with an unfortunate situation, but no kids or STIs!
Sure we might have microplastics and microrubbers inside our brains and balls.
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.
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 ?
I worked at a tire factory. Half the rubber used in tires is synthetic rubber, which is made from plastic. Your car tires are not made from 100% natural rubber from a tree.
Synthetic rubber is not plastic. It is from petrochemicals but not the same chemical substance.
A plastic is just a material made from polymers, you are the one adding artificial limitations on what polymers can be used. The belts in tires use both nylon and polyester which are both plastics by anyone’s definition. So even by your strict definition, tires are made up, at least in part, by plastic.
Was that really hard to understand ?
… umm, yes. I have literally no idea what you’re talking about.
