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

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2024-11-29 01:30:03

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

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.

These tire particles are a significant but often-overlooked contributor to microplastic pollution. They account for 28% of microplastics entering the environment globally.

Despite the scale of the issue, tire particles have flown under the radar. Often lumped in with other microplastics, they are rarely treated as a distinct pollution category, yet their unique characteristics demand a different approach.

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