When an automotive tire “wears”, rubber is removed/worn-off of the tire. My question, what happens to the removed rubber? We don’t see black rubber dust swirling around on the roadway pavement, so where does the worn-off rubber go? Are the carbon molecules in the rubber converted into carbon dioxide and contribute to the green-house gases? With the number of worn-out tires seen in recycling centers/junk yards, the amount of rubber removed from these discarded tires must be a large amount. What happens to the removed rubber and where does it go? A questioning mind would like to know.

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Bill

I saw a health and safety report program years ago that said the rubber does become a fine powder and can lead to respiratory issues. It was right about the time the auto industry started putting cabin air filters in their new models.

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Isaiah 41:10

I think it mostly goes into the road and is then some is washed away in the rain. I suppose some also gets in the air but it would then settle. I doubt it stays in the atmosphere.

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Common sense isn't so common.

Rubber is a natural substance and deteriorates in nature. It becomes part of the ground. Much of it along the highway shoulder.

Tires are mostly synthetic rubber, made from petroleum products. Both the natural and synthetic rubber components are chemically-modified for things like durability and wear resistance.

To say that tire rubber is the same as naturally-occuring rubber is not accurate.

My tire rubber (rear) wears out/ gets laid down as two long black stripes that eventually disappears by normal road traffic. 1998 Camaro Z28.

The small pieces end up right where the large tire carcasses do- in the roadway, or on the shoulder. From there, everywhere -soil, water, ocean.

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- Post No Bills -

10-20% of the weight of a tire is removed in its average usefullness. The weight contributes to average road-dust accumulation of all of the other **** that is emitted by a vehicle. Brake linings, heavy metals in exhaust, etc. There are figures about how long it takes for the synthetic rubber formulas to deteriorate and it is much longer than an original rubber tire which only took somewhere between 50-75 years to be absorbed back into the biomass. All that road dust accumulates and is blown into the atmosphere or lays along the roadway and is washed away by rain, some is absorbed by whatever plants are growing along the road. Some of the road dust is of course part of what we breathe and accumulates in our lungs and the lungs of the rest of the critters. Were just killing ourselves slowly and in the name of progress keep merrily burning our way along the road of life.
Somebody came up with great idea to figure out a way to grind up worn out tires, mix it with asphalt and put it back down on the roadway. They tried a mixture of that **** here in town and laid it down in front of the county courthouse, it was supposed to do well with our local freeze/thaw issue that results in potholes, I lost track of that information years ago. The Germans figured out a way to use ground up tires, re-cycle waste and cement to build paving bricks which have been used for centuries over there, it was supposed to work very well considering the tires would add a bit of texture to the otherwise slick bricks...if you've ever driven anything on old paving brick you know how slick they can be. We had sections of roads in this town that were like driving on ice when it rained.

Old tires make a great fuel for cement and lime kilns, but there aren't enough kilns to require more than a tiny fraction of used tires generated.

Mine tend to turn into smoke clouds and black stripes on the road

Most of it usually will end up in the ocean.

Those micro particles of rubber mix with petroleum residue dripping from hundreds of thousands of vehicles daily in and around cities like Seattle. And when you get the first rain in a while, it all turns to a slimey mess that won't wash of the roadways unless there is prolonged and at least moderate rainfall. So, when we get just a lite drizzle after a long dry spell, it is FAR more dangerous than a medium rain storm.

Light rain is FAR more dangerous than heavier rain around here.

Pull over on a busy interstate and you will see it, accumulated
on shoulder...especially in drier rain-less areas.

Back in the late 1960s in my street racing days the 4-500HP serious Torque cars I had most certainly put out tons of debris. I did not care about what happened as the tire made serious amounts of debris, my concern was winning the race.

Now today the engine, chassis electronic control will limit the amount of pollution spewed out when a abrupt flooring of the throttle occurs.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Same as with plastic. It turns in to micro particles and is in the dirt. air, food Everywhere. People have no idea how much "plastic" they eat, same with rubber and other synthetic products.


When Rubber Wears Off Tires, Where Does It Go?


Road Rubber - Science Updates - Science NetLinks

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Still Running Against the Wind

Consider this: An average tire wears off about 3/8" of it's tread during its lifetime. It's lifetime is measured in both years and miles with newer compounds lasting 50-70k miles at an average of 12k miles/year.

So, spread the rubber dust of 3/8" of your tread over 50-70k miles over 4-6 years. Be sure to bring a microscope

Ruthie leaves most of hers on the curb.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Interesting discussion. I never gave much thought to tire dust or its effect on the ecosystem or our health. I just thought about it for a few seconds... That’s enough for me!

I am grateful that we embraced the industrial revolution, made motor vehicles affordable to the average American and created the strongest economy in the free world.

Imagine what things would be like, if we didn’t have the capability to defeat Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan in WWII. Imagine what it would be like, had not been able to stand toe to toe and limit communist expansion. Countless nations would be living under tyranny and oppression today. Millions more people would have been slaughtered or enslaved. We’d probably be eating fish heads and rice or braten-gruel right now.

People are living longer than ever. Advancements in technology have let to vaccines that virtually eliminated a number of crippling diseases. We’ve made countless medical advances in early detection and treatment. America has been known as the breadbasket of the world for good reason. We couldn’t have accomplished all that with horses, plows and manure. We’ve been able to help other countries improve their standard of living, because of the technological advancements we made and the wealth we created. I dare say none of the good things we take for granted today would have been possible, without tires and the blessed internal combustion engine.

A lot of you are old enough to remember what vehicle smog was like in the 1960’s, back before catalytic converters and unleaded gasoline. Engines burn cleaner than ever today and the vast majority of vehicle emissions are simply CO2 and water. As popular as it is for people to decry CO2, it is an inert gas and is necessary for plant life to survive.

A little tire dust on the side of the road??? Excellent trade off!

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"I also cook."

Yeah, but it would be really good for our cholesterol!

Sure no problem we are living longer. No Worries. This is the plastic JUST on one beach. Same with tires. and lots of other "stuff" But heck it ain't hurting nothing.

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Still Running Against the Wind

Hundreds of thousands to millions of years from now whatever has evolved to intelligent life after we've killed ourselves off will study soil strata and will find a thin to not so thin layer of tire rubber, brake dust, microplastics and large amounts of carbon from fossil fuels. It'll be the only thing left to show we were here.

when we were kids surfing cold water northern california in the early 60's without wetsuits, if we ran out of wood we'd burn old tires on the beach to keep warm in between go outs. Would piss off the local homeowners to no end, come running with their shovels when the black smoke headed their way. Likely still a wanted poster with my face on it posted somewhere in the Sierra Club HQ.

I can recall when rivers burned as well. Both air and water quality have massively improved over the last 40 years due to government regulation and better stewardship of the environment.

If you are not old enough to remember those days, don't worry. If we keep rolling back all those EPA regulations that led to improved air and water quality, all y'all will get to experience brown clouds and burning rivers for yourselves.

As long as you are up-wind of the kiln.

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CSM, U S Army(Ret) 1963-1990

The World is a lot bigger than you may think, I do coastal cleanup every year (there is much more out offshore) We bring in TONS of trash every year, Many turtles, Dolphins, and others are killed by plastic.

Some of it, sure, but most? Doubt it. I've heard the same thing about plastic straws. Still waiting to hear an explanation of how a plastic straw buried in a landfill 500 miles inland makes the trip.

Not concerned one bit.

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Sure you did

I can recall when garbage was loaded on barges and dumped in the ocean. There's a lot less of that in the US today and when it's done it's done illegally.

However, that isn't the case in Asia and much of the plastics we see on west coast beaches originate in Asia, whether it was dumped at sea, or dumped in rivers and floated out to sea.

There is some irony there as well as most of our recycling is sent to China. There they sort the plastics and the stuff that isn't readily, or economically recycled is dumped - more often than not in a river or into the ocean.

That plastic then ends up on our coasts, in the Pacific gyre garbage patch or on beaches like the one the OP posted.

Just because it doesn't land on our beach doesn't mean it's not our trash or that we can just ignore it.

I have lived her my whole life. On or near the Coasts Heck we were even neighbors for 5 years.


You might want to do some research on Ocean currents, the longevity of plastics. Environmental impact of Plastics Heck go audit a class or two at UF. You may learn something. Look up some pictures of Cocoa Daytona Clearwater. Texas Beaches etc etc just after a long weekend, or Spring break, See how much trash is left in 2 or 3 days.


13,000 lbs in one weekend
Returning beachgoers left 13,000 pounds of trash on Florida's Cocoa Beach, prompting crackdown


Key West



Miami canals







Miami beach





It goes on and on and on.




Microplastics
| National Geographic Society


And you consume them everyday

That is like saying OIL is a natural substance. Lets just let the well spew into the Gulf.

A 14-year oil spill in Gulf of Mexico verges on becoming one of the worst in U.S. history | National News | tulsaworld.com

Lets not forget Deep Water Horizon
or the Exxon Valdez

But hey watch out for that "FAKE NEWS"

No worries a little Palmolive or Dawn and it will all clean up.

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Still Running Against the Wind

There are rubber eating mites that live in the pores of the road surface and eat the left over rubber.

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Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

I recall my first (& only) experience at an open air oval race track. The thrill of those engines roaring as they thundered past, and feeling the vibration in your chest made you just grin.

My wife at the time had worn white slacks (not knowing any better), and soon she started to complain that her pants were getting dirty, and the chairs we were setting in would be covered with a black powder after a short time standing up. I looked in my beer cup and saw flecks of rubber floating on the foam.

That's when I realized the cars were shredding their tires and we were within the fallout of it, breathing it in, eating and drinking it. Her slacks were never worn again, but as far as I can tell, they were the only casualty. (that I can see of course)

Being a circle track where the cars were running much wider tires at a much faster pace, it was clearly visible where the tire wear was going. It's not so noticeable when you're inside your air-conditioned car with all of the windows up, however there are a lot more than the 20-30 cars we saw at the race track.

We're still eating and breathing it in, and it's washing away to our creeks, rivers and oceans. Another similar side effect to our automobiles and semi-trucks, is the oil slick left in the center of the road where engines and transmissions drip as we travel. Take notice at bridge aprons where the cars and trucks take a sudden jolt. It shakes those droplets that haven't dropped off yet, and the pavement/cement will show a large darker area where that oil collects.

That's what makes roads so slick when it first starts to rain, and hasn't washed off yet. On a motorcycle I always slowed way down when the road first got wet, and I never road down the center of the road, where the oil would build up on my tires.

The dinosaur age is what brought us our petroleum, so I suppose it's just all going back to the earth, one way or another.

"smog" from California fires has now reached the East Coast.


Sand (Dust) from the Sahara influences our weather here in the USA


Water covers 71% of the Earth is Water. Someone doesn't see trash inland, so therefore it doesn't exist!


Fake Image, they really do not do this

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Still Running Against the Wind

The way some people seem to be proud of being ignorant makes me wonder what the future will be like. If you want to call it "fake news" that's fine I guess, but it doesn't change the truth behind an awful lot of what some people term "fake news". Many of the people who use that term seem to get most, if not all their news from a source that mostly IS "fake news". Ironic...

I don't know if it is still done today but I do remember one use for chunks of rubber that I thought was down right amazing.

The small pieces of rubber were added to a race track for horses.
Sorry I don't know where or what country.

An interesting article to add to this thread. Salmon have been dying mysteriously on the West Coast for years. Scientists think a chemical in tires may be responsible - CNN.

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John. SWCA #1586

My guess. India. Where no one gives a carp about ecology, as long as they are competitive.

We could say the same thing about other "workers paradises" on this Earth.

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Expect the unexpected

Rubber dust will turn out to be a lawyers bonanza. Bigger than asbestos, talcum powder, and all of the others on tv.

Sometimes it's recycled in asphalt. Fresh and hot it really stinks like crazy. I parked next to a truck once that had a load of it and I asked the driver what made his load smell so bad.

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9tenz

Yet we humans are living longer than we ever have (not counting the Bible which cannot be discussed here).