The article in the url below demonstrates to me how basic the current conversation is about environmental pollution, and the layers of complexity we are yet to even consider, let alone begin to tackle:
"The Tyre Collective does not yet have a name for its device. Hanson Cheng, one of the London-based startup's three co-founders, calls it a 'box.' Built to attach behind the wheel of a car, truck, van or bus, it's designed to capture emissions from an oft-overlooked source: tires. Every vehicle sheds tiny bits of its tires as it rolls, but 'where the rubber meets the road' is a bit of a misnomer: The tires on most passenger vehicles contain little natural rubber. Instead, they're made from a stew of petrochemicals, particles of which ultimately wind up in soil, air, waterways and oceans."
And, the amount of pollution tires create is not insignificant (see also Strategic CSR – Eco-activism):
"The International Union for Conservation of Nature pegs tires as the second leading source of microplastic pollution in oceans, and one 2017 study found a global per capita average of .81 kilograms in tire emissions per year, ranging from .23 kg per year in India to 4.7 kg (roughly 10 pounds) in the US. That may seem minor stacked up against the nearly 300 pounds in plastic waste the average American generates each year, but microplastics are tiny by definition — and an insidious source of toxins that researchers are only beginning to understand. 'When we talk about zero emissions, a lot of that conversation is about electric vehicles,' says Cheng, 30. 'But there's a whole world of non-exhaust emissions that also needs to be addressed.'"
We are like cats distracted by a laser pointer – we focus on one thing to the exclusion of other things, thinking we are making progress when we are really not even scratching the surface. The danger of this is that progress is too slow, but also that progress made on one dimension causes problems in other areas where we are paying less attention:
"Switching to electric cars helps to lower carbon emissions — even after accounting for manufacturing and charging batteries — but it actually exacerbates the problem of tire emissions. EVs typically weigh more and accelerate faster than their gas-burning counterparts, both of which add to tire wear. … 'Most of these EVs are big monstrous things, so it's perfectly intuitive that they will be chewing up tires faster,' says Nick Molden, founder and CEO of the UK-based research shop Emissions Analytics. Results from the company's latest road tests, [last year], show that under normal driving conditions a gas car sheds about 73 milligrams per kilometer from four new tires. A comparable EV, the company estimates, sheds an additional 15 milligrams per kilometer, or about 20% more."
The challenge of unforeseen consequences is enhanced when we develop any particular innovation in a vacuum, without investigating the potential ripple effects of the change:
"One landmark study makes the potential stakes clear. In 2020, researchers in Washington state solved a decades-old mystery of why storm runoff was causing mass deaths of coho salmon: 6PPD, a preservative commonly used in car tires. When exposed to sun and air, 6PPD transforms into a chemical called 6PPD-quinone, which turns out to be highly toxic to coho salmon — causing them to circle, gasp at the surface and then die within hours."
The goal for the Tyre Collective is to collect tire residue at the point of emission, by way of the device they have created:
"In the laboratory, Tyre Collective's device pulled in 60% of airborne emissions by mass, but real-world implementation is proving more challenging. The company is currently testing a prototype on a pair of delivery vans in London, where it's so far gathering around a fifth of emissions. The Tyre Collective's plan is to begin retrofitting the devices on delivery and bus fleets and, eventually, for EV manufacturers to integrate the technology into their cars — doing for tire emissions what the catalytic converter did for the tailpipe. Cartridges full of tire emissions could then be emptied at collection points as part of routine vehicle service and reused in new tires, soles of shoes and other products."
But that, in itself, is not a solution. That only happens when we encourage the collection of the waste, widespread adoption of the technology, and an ability to recycle what is collected:
"'There's a need to create a circular loop around this waste,' says Cheng. 'Otherwise, we're going to all this effort to capture it for it to be released back into landfills.'"
Take care
David
David Chandler
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When Driving, Tires Emit Pollution. And EVs Make the Problem Worse
By Ira Boudway
September 2, 2022
Bloomberg Green
