from the what-other-options-do-we-have dept.
"Microplastics" is a term used to describe the tiny particles of plastic waste. The problem is that these don't break down organically - they just become smaller (to the molecular level). There's famously the "plastic soup" in oceans that contains such particles.
A recent Norwegian* study looked into the originators of these microplastic. Surprisingly enough: car tyres. There are other sources, but they contribute significantly less. According to the infographic, it breaks down as follows:
- Car tyres: 2250 tons
- Paint/maintenance of ships: 650 tons
- loss from plastic production: 400 tons
- painting/maintenance of buildings+infrastructure: 310 tons
- laundry: 110 tons
- waste treatment: 100 tons
... and some small change.
This means that car tyres alone, by themselves, account for a staggering 55% of microplastic waste.
To put this in perspective: Germans and Norwegians (both) use up about 2 kilos of car tyres per person per year.
Note: These numbers seem particular to Norway - overall yearly production of microplastics seems (unfortunately) vastly greater, see the below-linked German report (table on page 33) for some EU estimates.
* There's apparently a German study corroborating this. The only one I could find is here (English, downloads a PDF).
Related Stories
Microplastics in water not harmful to humans, says WHO report
Microplastics are increasingly found in drinking water, but there is no evidence so far that this poses a risk to humans, according to a new assessment by the World Health Organization.
However, the United Nations body warned against complacency because more research is needed to fully understand how plastic spreads into the environment and works its way through human bodies.
There is no universally agreed definition of microplastics but they are generally considered to be smaller than half a millimetre across.
Plastic production has grown exponentially in recent decades and is predicted to double again by 2025, said the report, which means more beads and threads are breaking down into minute particles and winding up in water supplies, pipes, cups, throats and bellies. Studies suggest bottled drinking water even contains minuscule elements of the polymers used in the container and cap.
Also at CNN.
Related: Car Tyres Cause 55% of Microplastic Waste, According to Study
Paper on Microplastic's Harm to Fish Will Likely be Retracted
Microplastics Found in 90 Percent of Table Salt
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 06 2015, @05:20PM
What's a tyre? We speak English around these here parts.
(Score: 4, Touché) by ikanreed on Friday November 06 2015, @05:27PM
And not whatever that weird language they speak in England is!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 06 2015, @05:30PM
Did you see the last link in the summary?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Friday November 06 2015, @05:45PM
Wow. That should read "for the pedants." http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pedant [reference.com]
(Score: 2) by basicbasicbasic on Friday November 06 2015, @05:45PM
I did, and the use of the (non)word "pedantics" is mildly infuriating. I suspect deliberately.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Saturday November 07 2015, @11:04AM
When smart-Alecs pick me up on my grammar or spelling I usually retort, "It's my language and I'll abuse it in any way I see fit." Didn't someone clever like Mark Twain or Oscar Wilde have something witty to say about people who could only think of one way to spell a word? So much of our grammar and spelling are just arbitrary rules adopted by academics in the last couple of hundred years. Words keep changing, sounds shift etc.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by basicbasicbasic on Saturday November 07 2015, @11:57AM
I have no problem with your use of the word "pedantics". Being mildly infuriating is part of what made it funny. But it was mainly funny because it was wrong. There are rules to language and accepted ways of spelling words; if there weren't then you wouldn't have been able to play with those rules to make a joke.
But I wouldn't go so far as to say that language is so fluid you can completely menagle the refiction. It is firstly a communication restan, and anything which internates with that restan should have a reason for being incopted; to make a joke, for example. Otherwise you perface the restan less beleficent.
(Score: 2) by Murdoc on Friday November 06 2015, @07:14PM
I didn't know what "tyre" meant. Usually when there is a normal word with the "i" replaced with a "y", it means that it's some new product on the market, so that's what I thought it was likely to be at first, except that the summary didn't go on to explain what that product was, which is what caused me to have to look into it.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 06 2015, @05:43PM
(Score: 1) by kazzie on Friday November 06 2015, @06:13PM
I think you meant pedantics.
(Score: 2) by Username on Friday November 06 2015, @06:46PM
I think you mean pendantycs. Pronounced with a silent T and D.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 06 2015, @10:29PM
Don't you ever get tyred of this?
(Score: 2) by FakeBeldin on Tuesday November 10 2015, @02:14PM
Submitter here.
This whole thread made me laugh :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 06 2015, @09:37PM
No, pendants.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday November 06 2015, @05:58PM
Given the current shape of many roads, the metallic wheel should make a comeback soon.
(Score: 5, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Friday November 06 2015, @05:59PM
Tires release a large amount of heavy metals into stormwater runoff as well. Copper and Zinc, primarily.
Highway runoff can have effluent concentrations that would get private-industry sued out of existance.
(Score: 2) by mrchew1982 on Saturday November 07 2015, @03:56AM
I was always told that the copper originated from metallic brake pads (as an antisquel agent) and the zinc comes from motor oil (an antiwear additive).
(Score: 3, Informative) by Snotnose on Friday November 06 2015, @06:31PM
I spent 15 years living next to a freeway (handy hint: if the real estate agent says you'll get used to the noise, they're lying). The surfaces of everything kept getting covered with gritty black dust. I have relatives that live at the end of a dirt road, they didn't get near the dust I got. Dusted every week, after 4-5 days there was noticeable black dust on everything.
Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday November 06 2015, @06:59PM
If you drive the freeways in Miami, there's a fine sticky goo that gets on windshields, etc. over time - very hard to get off. I've been told that this is bits-o-tire that sticks to the glass (and everything else) presumably worse there than elsewhere because of the heat + humidity.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 06 2015, @07:46PM
I suspect you live in an area lacking proper winter? This time of year I am always surprised with the amount of debris that build up only to be obliterated or swept away by the snow and plows. I have wondered how more southerly locales deal with that same problem.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Friday November 06 2015, @08:17PM
I'm in San Diego, my idea of a proper winter is I get to unwrap gifts under a fake tree :)
Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 06 2015, @08:29PM
With ethanolfueled?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday November 07 2015, @02:01AM
We don't have a problem with snow and ploughs, we can fully enjoy our hard earned debris.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2015, @03:26AM
That probably was soot. Remember all those pictures of people wearing hats from a century ago? That's why. To keep the soot off.
(Score: 2) by Covalent on Friday November 06 2015, @07:55PM
Tyres (I'm from Michigan, but I'll play along) are about as black as a substance can be made, which means that they absorb all sorts of radiation from space and radiate it as heat, contributing to climate change. Soot is already a major problem:
http://www.nature.com/news/soot-a-major-contributor-to-climate-change-1.12225 [nature.com]
This is probably just making things worse.
Happy Friday!
You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 06 2015, @09:40PM
Agreed. Tyres are very difficult to get rid of, including burning them (yuck). Some are chopped up and used in roadways and as fillers for playgrounds, but even that process results in bits of tyres getting into the waterways and oceans. It's about as bad as nuclear waste. Shoot them to the sun to burn!
(Score: 3, Informative) by Zinho on Friday November 06 2015, @10:07PM
All of the black in care tires comes from Carbon black (i.e. soot) added to the rubber. The rubber by itself is a translucent tan. [google.com] By the time the rubber is floating in the ocean as monomolecular bits the carbon black is released and contributing to global warming on its own, as soot.
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 06 2015, @10:32PM
And nobody could do nothing. Because the car is the holy cow of the 1900s.
(Score: 2) by khchung on Saturday November 07 2015, @03:40AM
Because the car is the holy cow of the 1900s.
Only in the US of A.
Public transportation works in most of the world, so driving is a luxury in many places around the world. So even if some place have similar ownership ratio (i.e. cars per family) as the US, most place would still have fewer average miles driven per year because you don't *need* to drive to work every single day as you have to option to use public transport.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by BeaverCleaver on Friday November 06 2015, @10:39PM
I see that plastic bags aren't on the list. Yes, they are a source of litter. No, they are not accumulating in some giant pacific trash pile. Yes, feel-good legislation (supported by supermarkets, who are thrilled that they can now charge for something they used to give away for free) is merely a distraction from proper environmental laws that might actually fix things.