alt.hn

3/5/2026 at 10:01:46 AM

Microplastics and nanoplastics in urban air originate mainly from tire abrasion

 https://phys.org/news/2026-03-microplastics-nanoplastics-urban-air-abrasion.html

by JeanKage

3/5/2026 at 1:13:30 PM

It's been well known for a while that car tires are the biggest single source of microplastics, but it's nice to have more numbers backing this up.

This is one of multiple reasons why Electric cars are much closer to ICE cars in the overall combination of sustainability and societal effects than they are to trains and subways. It's like

[ICE cars---Elec Cars---------------------------Trains/Subways]

yet even on the relatively informed HN I often see people pretend it's more like

[ICE cars-----------------------Elec cars-------Trains/Subways]

I think it's most of it is because EVs are shiny and cool and represent technological progress and people feel attached to certain brands. That, along with personal convenience/privilege.

by deaux

3/5/2026 at 6:09:37 PM

I think we're closer to the 2nd than the 1st example, at least outside of the united states.

The issue isn't just tire abrasion (which will be much higher w/ EVs), but local emissions, which are *really* bad. Like we're all fucked due to CO2, but the kids getting messed up before adulthood due to chemical/particulate damage to their lungs are getting it from ICE vehicles.

We could argue that personal electric vehicles allow for ICE cars to have a graceful transition rather than the shock changeover that's needed or that the use of either crowds out mass transit, but that's just to say that if a frog had wings he wouldn't bump his ass hopping.

by adampunk

3/5/2026 at 10:45:11 AM

One interesting implication of this is that most discussions about microplastics focus on food or ocean pollution, but urban air exposure might actually be much more constant.

Tire abrasion is happening everywhere there is traffic, so people in cities are probably inhaling these particles daily without noticing it.

It raises question about particle size distribution. Nanoplastics behave very differently from larger particles and may interact with biological tissues in ways that are still poorly understood...

Urban environments might therefore be an important long-term exposure pathway that hasn’t been studied as much as water or seafood contamination

by persumentor

3/5/2026 at 6:45:13 PM

tire dust is one of the primary causes of mass juvinile salmon death, as it contains a biocide to prevent tires from rotting, that acumulates in roadside ditches and can be washed into rivers and streams in aerly spring whem the salmon smolts are vulnerable. Jet fuel also contains a biocide to prevent it bieng degraded by certain algae, along with, well, I'm thinking just about everything else at this point. Oh, wait, sorry, I get it, this about trying to deamonise cars in "urban" "environments" nevermind.

by metalman