2025-04-23
41 分钟Electric cars are great.
They're quiet and their lack of exhausts contribute to cleaner air.
They're none of those noxious fumes that we've come to expect from cars that burn fossil fuels.
But these green machines are also typically heavier than their petrol or diesel cousins.
And it turns out they have an unexpected consequence on the environment.
I've got one word for you.
Plastics.
Tyre wear and tear is actually the second largest contributor to microplastics in our environment.
So every time you accelerate, brake or corner,
these tiny particles are produced and are flung off of the tyre.
That's Siobhan Anderson, a co-founder of an engineering startup called the Tyre Collective,
which is trying to reduce the microplastic pollution from tyres.
About half a million tonnes are produced in Europe annually, just from cars driving around.
As we're moving towards an electric future with electric vehicles becoming more common.
They actually weigh more than their gas counterparts,
which means that the future pollution isn't going to be coming from tailpipes, but from tyres.
Microplastics are tiny fragments of plastic,
so small that they can end up circulating in the air and contaminating waterways.
They're everywhere,
found in places as remote as the Earth's highest mountain or the planet's deepest ocean trenches.