Microplastics, much of which is created by tyres when people drive cars, have been found all over the planet, from the bottom of the seas to the placentas of pregnant women. Photo: dpa
Speeding doesn’t only drive up petrol consumption, it also increases tyre wear, and therefore the amount of rubber residue and microplastics you leave behind.
For this reason, frequent drivers in particular should make sure they buy car tyres with low wear.
Synthetic rubber, one of the plastics in tyres, accounts for around a third of all microplastic emissions as abrasion from car tyres in some countries.
Rainfall washes much of these microplastics – small plastic pieces less than 5mm long – into seas, rivers and lakes, where researchers say they pose a massive threat to marine animals.
The problem is: Not all tyres cause the same levels of pollution. A test by German car club ADAC showed that some models generate relatively low levels of microplastics compared with other brands.
The association has compared abrasion data from around 100 summer, winter and all-season tyres from different manufacturers and across different dimensions. The result: A vehicle’s average tyre wear is just under 120g per 1,000km.
According to the ADAC, Michelin tyres performed better in the tests, with tyre abrasion averaging 90g per 1,000km. In the case of the Michelin Cross Climate plus model in the 185/65 R15 dimension suitable for small cars, average wear was 58g per 1,000km – half of the average.
In general, sports models don’t do as well when it comes to abrasion. In the 225/40 R18 summer tyre category, ADAC found above-average abrasion of up to 160g per 1,000km for all models examined.
According to the association, the benefits of sports tyres are questionable. While they often do well on dry roads, they are often a disadvantage on wet surfaces.
While the impact on the environment is massive, tyre-wear particles are not yet known to be as harmful to humans as particulate matter from other sources such as brakes and road surfaces, which has been linked to millions of annual premature deaths, mostly in city dwellers.
However, microplastics have been found all over the planet, from the bottom of the seas to the placentas of pregnant women. Environmental activists have called on governments to ban or limit the sale of tyres with high abrasion. – dpa
