A new UN regulation is set to curb one of the biggest sources of microplastic pollution \u2013 your tyres.<\/p>\n
Every move you make, every turn you take, every time you brake, every time you accelerate \u2013 your tyres will be shedding microplastics. Tyre and road wear particles \u2013 as the specialists call it \u2013 are an invisible, lesser-known source of plastic pollution. Part natural and part synthetic rubber, a plastic polymer, tyres lose about a third of their weight over their lifetime, polluting the air, water and soil.<\/p>\n
Now, a new regulation under discussion in Geneva wants to curb that. This week, the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) adopted limits on tyre abrasions from new C1 tyres for cars and vans.<\/p>\n
Why it matters<\/p>\n
Studies have shown tyre wear is one of the largest sources of microplastics in the environment, making up 78 per cent of 1.3 million metric tons of microplastics leaking into the ocean in 2016 \u2013 a figure on track to more than double by 2040.<\/p>\n
Even the most pristine natural habitats are affected. Earlier this year, samples collected from the air, water and inhabitants of Lake Annecy reportedly found<\/a> high levels of microplastics and toxic chemicals from tyres, suspected to have washed down from the 40km of road snaking alongside the lake.<\/p>\n \u201cAs engine exhaust standards have tightened over the decades, brake and tyre wear have become the dominant source of fine particulate emissions from road transport,\u201d says Fran\u00e7ois Cuenot, secretary of the UNECE\u2019s Working Party on Noise and Tyres, which endorsed the limits on Tuesday.<\/p>\n How it works<\/p>\n The regulation will be submitted for adoption to the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations at its next meeting in Geneva in June 2026 and will enter into force in January 2027 in countries that have ratified the 1958 agreement on UN regulations for wheeled vehicles.<\/p>\n Manufacturers would be required to prove that their tyres lose no more than a set weight threshold. The test is straightforward in principle: weigh a tyre, drive a vehicle, weigh it again. But agreeing on how to run the test turned out to be anything but simple.<\/p>\n The European Union\u2019s Euro 7 vehicle emission regulation, due to kick in in 2028, sets strict limits on exhaust pollutants and first-ever limits on brake and tyre abrasion. The clock has already started ticking. \u201cYou need to test hundreds of types of tyres in a couple of years, and you need a lot of testing facilities to be able to do those tests,\u201d Cuenot explains. Two tests were allowed \u2013 one on the road and one in the lab. Getting them to count equally was one of the biggest sticking points.<\/p>\n Environmental groups pushed back. \u201cTest methods must be representative of abrasion in real-world conditions to effectively phase out worst-performing tyres from the market,\u201d several organisations, including the Environmental Coalition on Standards (ECOS), Pew Trust and the Gallifrey Foundation, wrote in an open letter to the European Commission, urging the body not to let ambition be dragged down by compromises and delays.<\/p>\n Cuenot says that while still not perfect, negotiators have largely arrived at an agreement that ensures both methods provide equivalent results. He further notes that firms engaged with discussions early on, partly out of reputational concern.<\/p>\n Sarah Baulch, senior officer at The Pew Charitable Trusts, who leads the NGO\u2019s EU microplastics work, describes this week\u2019s adoption as an \u201cimportant milestone in international efforts to address tyre wear emissions\u201d, but that it\u2019s impact is yet to be tested.<\/p>\n \u201cThe environmental effectiveness of the framework will depend on how ambitious the performance thresholds are, how quickly they are strengthened over time, and whether the methodology delivers robust and transparent results,\u201d she says, noting the importance of \u201ccontinued independent scrutiny and open access to underlying data\u201d.<\/p>\n Driving impact<\/p>\n The regulation is expected to knock 30 per cent of tyres currently off the European and Japanese markets by 2028. Full implementation would cut tyre wear pollution in countries adopting the regulation by 10 per cent \u2013 \u201cnot a huge number but it’s already very significant\u201d according to Cuenot. Fleet turnover will determine how quickly the effect is felt, though he notes it typically takes only a few years.<\/p>\n The EU\u2019s Zero Pollution Plan aims to cut microplastics by 30 per cent by 2030, with tyres making up a third of it.<\/p>\n The rules bind the roughly 60 signatories of the agreement. That\u2019s most of Europe, plus a handful of countries from Asia and Africa, like Nigeria and Pakistan. China \u2013 roughly half of production and 40 per cent of the consumer market \u2013 and the US, the world\u2019s second largest consumer market, are not among them.<\/p>\n Even so, the standards\u2019 impact may travel beyond their formal boundaries. \u201cWe know that some countries, for example, in Latin America, that are not officially contracting parties are required by law to be compliant with UN regulations,\u201d says Cuenot. Whether these particular regulations join that list will become clear in a few years.<\/p>\n What\u2019s missing<\/p>\n One caveat, the regulations require countries to accept compliant tyres but not to ban non-compliant ones. The EU is planning to close that gap and impose a ban by 2030, the UK is following suit, and Japan and Korea are still weighing it.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you take all those four major markets, that’s already a big share of production globally,\u201d says Cuenot.<\/p>\n But abrasions are only part of the story. Tyres don\u2019t just shed particles \u2013 they leach chemicals. One notorious example is 6PPD, a chemical used as an antioxidant to keep tyres from cracking and breaking down. Studies have shown that it can be toxic to aquatic life and a certain type of salmon<\/a> and possibly harm human health under high exposure.<\/p>\n \u201cThe chemical pollution aspect is not yet well addressed at the global level or at the EU level,\u201d says Emily Best, senior programme manager at the environmental NGO ECOS. Some EU initiatives are in the pipeline, according to Best, including a proposal to restrict 6PPD and other related substances and through its latest regulations on ecodesign for sustainable products, for which tyres have been identified as a priority area.<\/p>\n As for the UNECE\u2019s work on tyre wear, the working groups will next tackle C2 and C3 tyres for heavier vehicles \u2013 like buses and heavy-duty trucks \u2013 where more durable tyres and greater mileage will require a different test procedure. A first proposal for light trucks is expected in September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new UN regulation is set to curb one of the biggest sources of microplastic pollution \u2013 your…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[65,20979,4957],"class_list":{"0":"post-35447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-geneva","8":"tag-geneva","9":"tag-plastic-pollution","10":"tag-unece"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116259937486626758","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}