Yesterday, I read an article in the Sky News app about the leaching of claimed dangerous chemicals from rubber crumb used in synthetic playing field surfaces. A quick search found this article on the AUSMAP website. AUSMAP = Australian Microplastic Assessment Project, apparently run out of Macquarie University. This led me to thinking, if rubber crumb is subject to leaching, what about microparticulate rubber worn from car, truck and bus tyres in day-to-day use on our roads? Have any measurements been done to quantify pollution from this source? On the face of it, the much higher specific surface area of rubber particles worn from tyres would allow much more complete leaching of soluble pollutants than from rubber crumbs. Will the move towards electric vehicles exacerbate this problem due to the much higher kerb weight of these vehicles? EVs typically weigh many hundreds of kilograms more than their similarly sized petrol or diesel powered counterparts, and tyre wear per driven kilometre could be expected to be higher..
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Tom Smith
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