Car tires shed a quarter of all microplastics in the environment. Urgent action is needed
phys.org
Every year, billions of vehicles worldwide shed an estimated 6 million tons of tire fragments. These tiny flakes of plastic, generated by the wear and tear of normal driving, eventually accumulate in the soil, in rivers and lakes, and even in our food. Researchers in South China recently found tire-derived chemicals in most human urine samples.

cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/20009882

Car tires shed a quarter of all microplastics in the environment. Urgent action is needed

Electric cars are not THE solution.

  • Xavienth@lemmygrad.ml
    0·
    9 days ago

    They’re both made of long polymer chains - chains of repeating carbon-based molecules - but rubbers are synthesized in a way that makes it easy for these chains to slip past each other and spring back. In plastics, the chains are much more tangled and bonded together.