Car Tires Tagged As Major Pollution Contributors, Not Exhaust Fumes

Many believe that one of the major contributors to pollution is the exhaust fumes from cars. However, recent tests show car tires are the true culprit, producing roughly 2,000 times more particles than modern cars.

Tire Wear Major Pollution Offender Compared to Car Exhaust

(Photo: Kaique Rocha from Pexels)

Every year across the globe, millions of early deaths are caused by air pollution. The requirement for more efficient filters enforced in developed countries has lowered the tailpipe emissions of new cars, with cars in Europe being far from the legal limit. On the other hand, the increasing weight of cars means increasing tires being thrown out because of wear from being on the road.

Tests also showed that tires produce more than 1 ton of ultrafine particles every kilometer it is driven, which means particles smaller than 23 nanometers. These particles are also emitted from exhausts and concern public health. Because of their size, these particles can easily enter organs via the bloodstream, reports Grist. Particles less than 23nm are extremely difficult to measure and are not regulated in the EU and the US.

Nick Molden from Emissions Analytics, an independent emissions testing company that spearheaded the research explains that tires are rapidly eclipsing tailpipe emissions as a major source of car emissions. Today, tailpipes are clean from pollutants that, if the car were new, there wouldn't be a need to regulate.

Molden said that initial estimates of tire particle emissions encouraged the start of the research. He explains that the team behind the tests came to a bewildering amount of material released into the environment, 300,000 tonnes of tire rubber in the US and UK just from cars and vans annually.

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Tires and the Environment

Currently, there are no regulations on the wear rate of tires and almost no regulation on the chemicals these car necessities contain. The team has determined the chemical pressing in over 250 different types of tires, mainly including synthetic rubber from crude oil. Molden says that there are hundreds of chemicals, many of which are carcinogenic. When you multiply it by the wear rates of tires, you get staggering figures contrary to what's being released in other reports.

Molden explains that the wear rate of different brands of tires varied substantially, with the toxic chemical content varying even more. He adds that showing low-cost changes was feasible to cut the environmental impact. Eliminating the most toxic tire types would contribute significantly to alleviating its pollution, says Molden. It's not about stopping people from driving, Molden argues. If the worst half is eliminated and the best in class is brought in line, it could spell a major significance.

The tests were conducted on 14 different tire brands using a Mercedes C-Class normally driven on the road. Some tested over their full lifetime. High-precision scales were then used to measure the weight lost by the tires, and a sampling system collected particles down to 6nm.