Microplastics and Nanoplastics In Urban Air Originate Mainly From Tire Abrasion, Research Reveals
(Wednesday March 04, 2026 @05:00PM (BeauHD)
from the tired-of-it dept.)
- Reference: 0180907106
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/03/04/2227225/microplastics-and-nanoplastics-in-urban-air-originate-mainly-from-tire-abrasion-research-reveals
- Source link:
[1]Dustin Destree shares a report from Phys.org:
> Although plastic particles in the air are increasingly coming into focus, knowledge about their distribution and effects is still limited. Chemical analyses from Leipzig now provide details from Germany for the first time: Around 4% of the particulate matter consists of plastic. [2]Around two-thirds of this comes from tire abrasion . Extrapolated, this means that people in a city like Leipzig inhale approximately 2.1 micrograms of plastic per day through the air, which increases the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 9% and from lung cancer by 13%. These findings underscore the need to take global action against plastic pollution and to examine air quality and health at the regional level, write researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) and Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.
"With around two-thirds of microplastics coming from tire abrasion, this shows that action is needed and that the fine dust problem cannot be solved by switching to electric mobility alone. To protect health, it would be important to also take tire abrasion into account when regulating air quality and to set limits for microplastics in the air," demands Prof. Hartmut Herrmann from TROPOS, who led the study.
The study has been [3]published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment .
[1] https://slashdot.org/~sacsupernerd
[2] https://phys.org/news/2026-03-microplastics-nanoplastics-urban-air-abrasion.html
[3] https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02980-0
> Although plastic particles in the air are increasingly coming into focus, knowledge about their distribution and effects is still limited. Chemical analyses from Leipzig now provide details from Germany for the first time: Around 4% of the particulate matter consists of plastic. [2]Around two-thirds of this comes from tire abrasion . Extrapolated, this means that people in a city like Leipzig inhale approximately 2.1 micrograms of plastic per day through the air, which increases the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 9% and from lung cancer by 13%. These findings underscore the need to take global action against plastic pollution and to examine air quality and health at the regional level, write researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) and Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.
"With around two-thirds of microplastics coming from tire abrasion, this shows that action is needed and that the fine dust problem cannot be solved by switching to electric mobility alone. To protect health, it would be important to also take tire abrasion into account when regulating air quality and to set limits for microplastics in the air," demands Prof. Hartmut Herrmann from TROPOS, who led the study.
The study has been [3]published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment .
[1] https://slashdot.org/~sacsupernerd
[2] https://phys.org/news/2026-03-microplastics-nanoplastics-urban-air-abrasion.html
[3] https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02980-0