So, there is plastic in our rubber tires? Interesting. Can we call it plas-rubber then and sound all futuristic at least?!
this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2026
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I don't think we've used tree rubber in our car rubbers in a long time
Anyone who's worked in a warehouse with forklifts could tell you this. I remember taking care of a PC in one when I was like 19-20 and asking about the dust and being told it was tires.
My immediate thought was "oh Jesus Christ what must our cars be doing"
Then the first big public studies on microplastics dropped.
Thinking back on how black my skin would become with tire dust, I'm amazed that masks aren't required by OSHA on freight docks. I used to be so dirty at the end of a shift. I'm sure it didn't have good impacts on my lungs...
To be fair forklifts do a lot more low-speed or static turning which causes significant tyre wear, but compared to the sheer volume of car traffic...
so, what alternative do we have to plastic tires? do we just go back to using extract from the rubber tree?
Cars that fly above the road
I don't trust normal drivers, you really trust people to fly their cars safely?
I'm not talking about full blown flying. Just hover above the road a few feet.
Reducing the use of cars would help.
If only there was a way
Trains
Steel tyres. They'd also look better!
Metal would wear out too fast on asphalt/concrete though. What if we used metal tyres on metal roads? Less friction, less abrasion! It'd be expensive though to replace the whole road. Maybe just a pair of strips the same width as the tyre spacing. Cars could even connect to each other to reduce aerodynamic drag.... Nah, would never work
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We need trains so bad
While I agree with you, particularly in urban areas where it's easy for transit to make sense, I do still think we need solutions for people not living near cities too. Makes me wonder if there's any tire technology out there to be developed that would either shed a lot less plastic, or maybe not even contain plastics.
Inb4 "lighter cars" or "just walk", yeah I know, and I already drive a wagon rather than an SUV, to min/max size versus practicality, and I usually try to walk to town unless I need to carry something heavy or the weather is particularly shit, but there's a ton of times where I need to go on a long drive, sometimes through multiple urban areas (that now get polluted with my microplastics), and public transit offers me no solution, or the solution is to at least double or triple the time taken by my already long drive. I'm eventually moving from diesel to electric to cut down on my exhaust pollution, but I'd also like there to be something that people like myself can do about the microplastics. Not because I think me alone doing something would change something, but because once something exists, it can be mandated by the EU or local governments.
not living near cities
Fewer cars, more green-space in the countryside, so not a huge worry. Cities should really focus on public transit; it fixes so many problems, no more drinking and driving, freeway congestion, traffic accidents, cost of owning car.
There was this chapter in an XKCD book talking about where does tire particles goes. From memory, it said "there are many answers to that question and none of them are good".
I love cars. I also wish my city had realistic public transport options that worked for my commute.
Trains are the real solution.
Bro-dozer pickups weighing 9000+ pounds are the biggest problem.
This isn’t a hard problem to solve technicaly… it’s just a social problem.
Weirdly, electric cars are also worse for tire abrasion since they tend to be heavier. Trains and electric bikes (in cities) seems like a good way to go
Legislative really. It all goes back to the Chicken Tax.
It has a lot to do with the supersizing of vehicles for sure.
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