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Study Reveals Substantial Quantities of Tyre Particles Contaminating Rivers and Ocean

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday May 27 2020, @09:19PM   Printer-friendly
from the tyring-news dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

A major UK government-funded research study suggests particles released from vehicle tyres could be a significant and previously largely unrecorded source of microplastics in the marine environment.

The study is one of the first worldwide to identify tyre particles as a major and additional source of microplastics. Scientists have previously discovered microplastics, originating from microbeads in cosmetics and the degradation of larger items such as carrier bags and plastic bottles, in marine environments globally—from the deep seas to the Arctic.

Following the government's ban on rinse off microbeads, which is one of the toughest in the world, the Defra-funded study [Defra - Dept for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs] led by the University of Plymouth now reveals vital new information that will improve our scientific understanding of how tiny particles from tyres, synthetic fibres from clothing and maritime gear also enter the ocean.

[...] The study shows the tyre particles can be transported directly to the ocean through the atmosphere, or carried by rainwater into rivers and sewers, where they can pass through the water treatment process. Researchers estimate this could place around 100million m² of the UK's river network—and more than 50million m² of estuarine and coastal waters—at risk of contamination by tyre particles.

Its findings also highlight some of the optimal places for intervention, for example, that fitting filters to washing machines could be less effective than changing fabric designs to reduce fibre loss, with another study at the University having recently shown that normal wear and tear when wearing clothes is just as significant a source of microplastic pollution as release from laundering.

[...] "What this study also does is provide further evidence of the complex problems posed by microplastic pollution. We have looked at three pathways and shown that all of them are substantive pathways to the environment. As we work to understand their potential distribution and impacts it is important to also work together with industry and policy makers to identify potential solutions which may include changes in behaviour, changes in product design and waste management."

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @09:59PM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @09:59PM (#999937)

    I must be getting old, I thought tires were made of rubber. Maybe plastic tyres is a UK thing?

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday May 27 2020, @10:06PM (2 children)

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Wednesday May 27 2020, @10:06PM (#999940) Journal

    Plastic from tyres 'major source' of ocean pollution [bbc.com] (2017)

    Synthetic rubber, made from a variant of plastic, makes up around 60% of the rubber used in tyres.

    Synthetic rubber [wikipedia.org]


    A synthetic rubber is any artificial elastomer. These are mainly polymers synthesized from petroleum byproducts. About 32-million metric tons of rubbers are produced annually, and of that amount two thirds are synthetic. Global revenues generated with synthetic rubbers are likely to rise to approximately US$56 billion in 2020. Synthetic rubber, like natural rubber, has uses in the automotive industry for tires, door and window profiles, hoses, belts, matting, and flooring.

    [...] The expanded use of bicycles, and particularly their pneumatic tires, starting in the 1890s, created increased demand for rubber. In 1909, a team headed by Fritz Hofmann, working at the Bayer laboratory in Elberfeld, Germany, succeeded in polymerizing isoprene, the first synthetic rubber.

    The first rubber polymer synthesized from butadiene was created in 1910 by the Russian scientist Sergei Vasiljevich Lebedev. This form of synthetic rubber provided the basis for the first large-scale commercial production by the tsarist empire, which occurred during World War I as a result of shortages of natural rubber. This early form of synthetic rubber was again replaced with natural rubber after the war ended, but investigations of synthetic rubber continued. Russian American Ivan Ostromislensky who moved to New York in 1922 did significant early research on synthetic rubber and a couple of monomers in the early 20th century. Political problems that resulted from great fluctuations in the cost of natural rubber led to the enactment of the Stevenson Act in 1921. This act essentially created a cartel which supported rubber prices by regulating production, but insufficient supply, especially due to wartime shortages, also led to a search for alternative forms of synthetic rubber.

    By 1925 the price of natural rubber had increased to the point that many companies were exploring methods of producing synthetic rubber to compete with natural rubber. In the United States, the investigation focused on different materials from those used in Europe, building on the early laboratory work of Fr Julius Nieuwland, a professor of chemistry at the University of Notre Dame, who developed the synthesis of neoprene.

    [...] B. F. Goodrich Company scientist Waldo Semon developed a new and cheaper version of synthetic rubber known as Ameripol in 1940. Ameripol made synthetic rubber production much more cost effective, helping to meet the United States' needs during World War II.

    Production of synthetic rubber in the United States expanded greatly during World War II since the Axis powers controlled nearly all the world's limited supplies of natural rubber by mid-1942, following the Japanese conquest of most of Asia (from where much of the global supply of natural rubber gets sourced).[citation needed] Military trucks needed rubber for tires and rubber was used in almost every other war machine. The U.S. government launched a major (and largely secret) effort to improve synthetic rubber production. [...] By 1944, a total of 50 factories were manufacturing it, pouring out a volume of the material twice that of the world's natural rubber production before the beginning of the war. It still represents about half of total world production.

    [...] Additional refinements to the process of creating synthetic rubber continued after the war. The chemical synthesis of isoprene accelerated the reduced need for natural rubber, and the peacetime quantity of synthetic rubber exceeded the production of natural rubber by the early 1960s.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by Muad'Dave on Thursday May 28 2020, @12:31PM

      by Muad'Dave (1413) on Thursday May 28 2020, @12:31PM (#1000139)

      About 32-million metric tons of rubbers are produced annually ...

      Someone's having a vigorous safe sex life.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Thursday May 28 2020, @09:24PM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday May 28 2020, @09:24PM (#1000288)

      Tire schmutz is evil stuff - sticky goo that's really hard to remove... learned this after driving 50,000 miles in a major metro area, the windshield was coated in this stuff that wouldn't come off for _almost_ anything. Hurricane Andrew finally cleaned it off: 4 hours of 100mph+ water+oak leaf blasting did finally get that stuff off the glass.

      Now, if it sticks to glass like that, just imagine what wonderful things it sticks to inside your body after you inhale it.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]

  • (Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @10:12PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @10:12PM (#999943)

    Oh bollocks! Piss off you bloody murican wanker. Over the pond yonder we call them tyres not "tires." French fries are also chips, chips are crisps, and ordering carry out Indian food is called "fancy a curry" which seems sorta racist, but we've done all sorts of fucked up shit to the Indians so it's fine. Now pardon me as I stick my pinky out while I sip disgusting Earl Grey tea through my buck teeth after a simply famishing game of croquet.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @10:32PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @10:32PM (#999949)

      but we've done all sorts of fucked up shit to the Indians

      So have we, even calling them "Indians!"

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @10:38PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @10:38PM (#999952)

        Actually, that was them too.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @10:39PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @10:39PM (#999953)

        OP meant wogs.