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544 resultsWhere the rubber meets the road: Emerging environmental impacts of tire wear particles and their chemical cocktails
About 3 billion new tires are produced every year, and the particles they shed during use are one of the largest sources of microplastic pollution, especially in urban areas. Tire wear particles contain a cocktail of heavy metals, plastics, and toxic organic compounds that wash into waterways during rain. Even recycled tire products like crumb rubber fields and rubber-modified pavement continue to release pollutants, making tire pollution a complex lifecycle problem.
Advanced understanding of the natural forces accelerating aging and release of black microplastics (tire wear particles) based on mechanism and toxicity analysis
Tire wear particles, a major but often overlooked source of microplastics in water, release heavy metals (especially zinc) and toxic organic chemicals as they age under sunlight and heat. The aging process increases the toxicity of these released substances to cells, raising concerns about long-term health effects from this widespread form of microplastic pollution.
Toxicity and intergenerational accumulation effect of tire wear particles and their leachate on Brachionus plicatilis
Researchers studied tire wear particles, a major source of microplastics in oceans, and found they harm tiny marine animals called rotifers across multiple generations. The toxic effects actually got worse over generations, with repeated exposure being more harmful than single-generation exposure. The zinc and chemical additives in tire particles were the main drivers of toxicity, raising concerns about the growing impact of tire-derived microplastics on marine food chains.
Tire wear particles in aquatic environments: A systematic review of sources, detection, distribution, and toxicological impacts
This systematic review examined tire wear particles — a type of microplastic created as tires wear down on roads — as an emerging water pollutant. These particles wash into rivers and oceans through stormwater runoff and contain toxic chemicals that harm aquatic organisms. Since tire wear is one of the largest sources of microplastic pollution, this is relevant to anyone living near roads or consuming seafood.
Soil properties explain the variability in tire wear particle effects in soil based on a laboratory test with 59 soils
Researchers tested how tire wear particles, one of the most common types of microplastics, affect 59 different soil types and found that the effects varied widely depending on soil properties like clay content and density. This matters because tire dust washes into soil and waterways everywhere, and understanding which soils are most vulnerable helps predict where pollution impacts will be greatest.
Size-dependent ecotoxicological impacts of tire wear particles on zebrafish physiology and gut microbiota: Implications for aquatic ecosystem health
Researchers found that tire wear particles, a major but often overlooked source of microplastic pollution, affect zebrafish health differently depending on particle size. Smaller particles caused more severe gut microbiome disruption, oxidative stress, and immune responses, suggesting that tire-derived microplastics in waterways may pose a greater health risk to aquatic life than previously recognized.
Review of Health Effects of Automotive Brake and Tyre Wear Particles
This review summarizes what is known about the health effects of brake dust and tire wear particles, which are now the largest transport-related sources of particulate air pollution in cities. Tire microplastics are also the biggest contributor of unintentionally released microplastics in the environment, and the review examines their effects on human cells and organisms as the EU introduces the first worldwide limits on these emissions.
A novel risk factor for dementia: chronic microplastic exposure
This review examines emerging evidence that chronic microplastic exposure may be a previously overlooked risk factor for dementia. Microplastics can cross the blood-brain barrier and may promote brain damage through oxidative stress, inflammation, and by accelerating the buildup of amyloid plaques linked to Alzheimer's disease, with studies finding higher microplastic levels in the brains of dementia patients compared to controls.
Tyre Wear Particles in the Environment: Sources, Toxicity, and Remediation Approaches
This review examines tire wear particles, which account for a major share of global microplastic pollution with 1.3 million metric tons released annually in Europe alone. These rubber-based particles contain heavy metals and toxic organic chemicals that contaminate air, water, and soil, and human exposure occurs through inhaling dust, eating contaminated food, and drinking water, raising concerns about respiratory, cardiovascular, and cancer risks.
Characteristics, Distribution, and Sources of Atmospheric Microplastics in Southeast Asia: A Scoping Review
This scoping review examined airborne microplastics in Southeast Asia, finding high concentrations in cities across Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. Common types included polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyester fibers linked to textile manufacturing and vehicle tire wear. The review highlights that we are not just eating and drinking microplastics — we are breathing them in too, and more research is needed on the long-term health effects of this exposure.
Microplastic Pollution in Terrestrial Ecosystems and Its Interaction with Other Soil Pollutants: A Potential Threat to Soil Ecosystem Sustainability
This review examines microplastic pollution in soils and how plastic particles interact with other pollutants like pesticides and heavy metals. About 80% of all plastic waste produced in the last 75 years has ended up in landfills or the environment, where it breaks into microplastics that alter soil health and contaminate crops. The combined effects of microplastics with other soil pollutants could threaten food safety and ultimately human health.
Mechanistic insight into the adverse outcome of tire wear and road particle leachate exposure in zebrafish (Danio rerio) larvae
Researchers studied how chemicals that leach from tire wear particles affect developing zebrafish, a common lab organism. The tire particle chemicals damaged eye development and impaired swimming behavior, even at concentrations found in the real environment. Since tire wear is one of the largest sources of microplastic pollution, these findings raise concerns about the ecological impact of road runoff on aquatic life.
Contribution of Road Vehicle Tyre Wear to Microplastics and Ambient Air Pollution
This review finds that tire wear from road vehicles contributes one-third to one-half of all microplastics released unintentionally into the environment, with passenger cars generating about 110 milligrams per kilometer driven. Most tire particles end up in soil, but a portion becomes airborne, contributing 5-30% of road transport particulate matter emissions. Since the smallest tire particles can be inhaled, this is a significant and often overlooked source of daily microplastic exposure for people living near roads.
Environmental occurrence, fate, impact, and potential solution of tire microplastics: Similarities and differences with tire wear particles
This review examines tire microplastics, one of the most abundant types of microplastics in the environment, which come from tire wear on roads, recycled tire rubber, and tire repair dust. These particles carry a complex mix of chemicals including heavy metals and organic pollutants that can harm aquatic and soil organisms. Since tire microplastics end up in waterways and soil near roads, they represent a significant but often overlooked source of human microplastic exposure.
Tire wear particles: Trends from bibliometric analysis, environmental distribution with meta-analysis, and implications
Bibliometric analysis showed tire wear particle research is concentrated in Europe and North America despite large vehicle populations in Asia and Africa. Meta-analysis revealed that tire wear particle concentrations varied greatly by country and environmental medium, with biotoxicity, environmental distribution, and human health risks identified as the current research hotspots.
Multigenerational toxic effects in Daphnia pulex are induced by environmental concentrations of tire wear particle leachate
Tiny water fleas exposed to chemicals leaching from tire wear particles across three generations showed impaired growth, delayed reproduction, and reduced offspring, even at concentrations found in the environment. These effects carried over to unexposed offspring, suggesting that tire-derived pollution can cause harm that passes from one generation to the next.
Generation of environmentally persistent free radicals on photoaged tire wear particles and their neurotoxic effects on neurotransmission in Caenorhabditis elegans
Tire wear particles, a common type of microplastic found on roads and in waterways, become more toxic after exposure to sunlight. This study found that sunlight-aged tire particles generate persistent free radicals that damaged the nervous system of test organisms, reducing movement and lowering levels of key brain chemicals like dopamine and serotonin. These findings suggest that weathered tire particles may pose a greater neurotoxic risk than fresh ones.
Leaching hazards of tire wear particles in hydrothermal treatment of sludge: Exploring molecular composition, transformation mechanism, and ecological effects of tire wear particle-derived compounds
When sewage sludge containing tire wear particles was treated with high heat and pressure, the process accelerated the release of harmful chemicals from the tire rubber into the liquid byproduct. Researchers identified 144 different chemical compounds leaching from the tire particles, many of which were toxic to aquatic organisms and plants -- highlighting how waste treatment processes can inadvertently spread tire-derived microplastic pollution.
Everything falls apart: How solids degrade and release nanomaterials, composite fragments, and microplastics
This review examines how solid materials -- including plastics, coatings, and composites -- break down and release tiny particles throughout their lifecycle, from manufacturing to disposal. The type and amount of particles released depend on the material's composition and the stresses it faces, such as mechanical wear, sunlight, and heat. Understanding these release mechanisms is crucial because they determine how much microplastic and nanoplastic pollution enters the environment and ultimately reaches humans.
Cocktail effects of tire wear particles leachates on diverse biological models: A multilevel analysis
Tire wear particles, a major but underappreciated source of microplastic pollution, leached chemicals into seawater that inhibited algae growth, caused developmental problems in zebrafish embryos, and showed hormone-disrupting effects in cell tests. The study found that water-soluble organic compounds from tires -- not just heavy metals like zinc -- were the primary drivers of toxicity, underscoring the need for better regulation of tire additives.
Understanding microplastic retention in surface flow constructed wetlands: The impact of aquatic macrophytes
This study tested how well constructed wetlands with different aquatic plants retain three common types of microplastics: polyethylene beads, tire wear particles, and synthetic fibers. Plants with complex leaf structures trapped more microplastics than simpler plants or unvegetated areas. The findings suggest that planted wetlands could serve as a nature-based solution for filtering microplastics from water before they reach rivers and drinking water sources.
Antibiotic Adsorption by Microplastics: Effect of Weathering, Polymer Type, Size, and Shape
This study examined how different types, sizes, and shapes of microplastics absorb the antibiotic ceftazidime, finding that weathered plastics absorbed significantly more than fresh ones. Softer, more porous plastics and smaller particles were the most effective at picking up the antibiotic. This is concerning because microplastics carrying antibiotics through water systems could contribute to antibiotic resistance, a major threat to human health.
Towards including soil ecotoxicity of microplastics and tire wear particles into life cycle assessment
This study developed a method to measure how toxic microplastics and tire wear particles are to soil ecosystems and calculated that about 20% of soil species would be harmed at concentrations of roughly 0.22-0.25 grams per kilogram of soil. Tire wear particles were found to be slightly more toxic than other microplastics. This research is important because it provides the first standardized way to include soil microplastic toxicity in environmental impact assessments, which could influence policy decisions about plastic pollution.
Mechanism of microplastic and nanoplastic emission from tire wear
Scientists showed that normal tire wear produces two distinct populations of plastic particles: smaller airborne nanoplastics that stay suspended in the air, and larger microplastics that settle to the ground. Nanoplastic emissions increase dramatically with vehicle speed and weight, and electric charge keeps the smallest particles floating in the air where they can be inhaled. This research identifies tire wear as a major and previously underappreciated source of breathable nanoplastic pollution.