Tyres: The stealthy pollutant you never thought about.

 

In a week where we’ve been looking at air particulate emission and the fact that the UK is above The Who maximum limit virtually throughout the country it’s interesting to note that tyre wear is the second largest microplastic pollutant in our ocean after single use plastic and it accounts for up to 50% of the air particulate emission from road transport. Every time we break every time we accelerate or return a corner the tyres wear out as they rub across the road. The particles become airborne and affect our lungs. Even more are swept into our waterways and oceans and eventually enter our food chain. Electric vehicles are predicted to increase this due to their added battery weight and torque. The tyre collective have been working on a device that directs and captures these charged particles off of a tyre currently capturing about 60% of all the airborne particles. Let us hope with suitable funding this machine can become a reality.



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