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Where the rubber meets the road: Emerging environmental impacts of tire wear particles and their chemical cocktails.

Authors :
Mayer PM
Moran KD
Miller EL
Brander SM
Harper S
Garcia-Jaramillo M
Carrasco-Navarro V
Ho KT
Burgess RM
Thornton Hampton LM
Granek EF
McCauley M
McIntyre JK
Kolodziej EP
Hu X
Williams AJ
Beckingham BA
Jackson ME
Sanders-Smith RD
Fender CL
King GA
Bollman M
Kaushal SS
Cunningham BE
Hutton SJ
Lang J
Goss HV
Siddiqui S
Sutton R
Lin D
Mendez M
Source :
The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2024 Jun 01; Vol. 927, pp. 171153. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Mar 07.
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

About 3 billion new tires are produced each year and about 800 million tires become waste annually. Global dependence upon tires produced from natural rubber and petroleum-based compounds represents a persistent and complex environmental problem with only partial and often-times, ineffective solutions. Tire emissions may be in the form of whole tires, tire particles, and chemical compounds, each of which is transported through various atmospheric, terrestrial, and aquatic routes in the natural and built environments. Production and use of tires generates multiple heavy metals, plastics, PAH's, and other compounds that can be toxic alone or as chemical cocktails. Used tires require storage space, are energy intensive to recycle, and generally have few post-wear uses that are not also potential sources of pollutants (e.g., crumb rubber, pavements, burning). Tire particles emitted during use are a major component of microplastics in urban runoff and a source of unique and highly potent toxic substances. Thus, tires represent a ubiquitous and complex pollutant that requires a comprehensive examination to develop effective management and remediation. We approach the issue of tire pollution holistically by examining the life cycle of tires across production, emissions, recycling, and disposal. In this paper, we synthesize recent research and data about the environmental and human health risks associated with the production, use, and disposal of tires and discuss gaps in our knowledge about fate and transport, as well as the toxicology of tire particles and chemical leachates. We examine potential management and remediation approaches for addressing exposure risks across the life cycle of tires. We consider tires as pollutants across three levels: tires in their whole state, as particulates, and as a mixture of chemical cocktails. Finally, we discuss information gaps in our understanding of tires as a pollutant and outline key questions to improve our knowledge and ability to manage and remediate tire pollution.<br />Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.<br /> (Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1879-1026
Volume :
927
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
The Science of the total environment
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
38460683
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171153