Where the rubber meets the road: Emerging environmental impacts of tire wear particles and their chemical cocktails.
Paul M Mayer, Kelly D Moran, Ezra L Miller, Susanne M Brander, Stacey Harper, Manuel Garcia-Jaramillo, Victor Carrasco-Navarro, Kay T Ho, Robert M Burgess, Leah M Thornton Hampton, Elise F Granek, Margaret McCauley, Jenifer K McIntyre, Edward P Kolodziej, Ximin Hu, Antony J Williams, Barbara A Beckingham, Miranda E Jackson, Rhea D Sanders-Smith, Chloe L Fender, George A King, Michael Bollman, Sujay S Kaushal, Brittany E Cunningham, Sara J Hutton, Jackelyn Lang, Heather V Goss, Samreen Siddiqui, Rebecca Sutton, Diana Lin, Miguel Mendez
Author Information
Paul M Mayer: US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Pacific Ecological Systems Division, Corvallis, OR 97333, United States of America. Electronic address: mayer.paul@epa.gov.
Kelly D Moran: San Francisco Estuary Institute, 4911 Central Ave, Richmond, CA 94804, United States of America. Electronic address: kellym@sfei.org.
Ezra L Miller: San Francisco Estuary Institute, 4911 Central Ave, Richmond, CA 94804, United States of America. Electronic address: ezram@sfei.org.
Susanne M Brander: Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, United States of America. Electronic address: susanne.brander@oregonstate.edu.
Stacey Harper: Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, School of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97333, United States of America. Electronic address: stacey.harper@oregonstate.edu.
Manuel Garcia-Jaramillo: Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, United States of America. Electronic address: manuel.g.jaramillo@oregonstate.edu.
Victor Carrasco-Navarro: Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio Campus, Yliopistonranta 1 E, 70211 Kuopio, Finland. Electronic address: victor.carrasco.navarro@uef.fi.
Kay T Ho: US Environmental Protection Agency, ORD/CEMM Atlantic Coastal Environmental Sciences Division, Narragansett, RI 02882, United States of America. Electronic address: Ho.Kay@epa.gov.
Robert M Burgess: US Environmental Protection Agency, ORD/CEMM Atlantic Coastal Environmental Sciences Division, Narragansett, RI 02882, United States of America. Electronic address: Burgess.robert@epa.gov.
Leah M Thornton Hampton: Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, 3535 Harbor Blvd, Suite 110, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, United States of America. Electronic address: leahth@sccwrp.org.
Elise F Granek: Environmental Science & Management, Portland State University, Portland, OR 97201, United States of America. Electronic address: graneke@pdx.edu.
Margaret McCauley: US Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10, Seattle, WA 98101, United States of America. Electronic address: mccauley.margaret@epa.gov.
Jenifer K McIntyre: School of the Environment, Washington State University, Puyallup Research & Extension Center, Washington Stormwater Center, 2606 W Pioneer Ave, Puyallup, WA 98371, United States of America. Electronic address: jen.mcintyre@wsu.edu.
Edward P Kolodziej: Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences (UW Tacoma), Civil and Environmental Engineering (UW Seattle), Center for Urban Waters, University of Washington, Tacoma, WA 98402, United States of America. Electronic address: koloj@uw.edu.
Ximin Hu: Civil and Environmental Engineering (UW Seattle), University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, United States of America. Electronic address: xhu66@uw.edu.
Antony J Williams: US Environmental Protection Agency, Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure, Chemical Characterization and Exposure Division, Computational Chemistry & Cheminformatics Branch, 109 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, United States of America. Electronic address: Williams.antony@epa.gov.
Barbara A Beckingham: Department of Geology & Environmental Geosciences, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, 66 George Street Charleston, SC 29424, United States of America. Electronic address: beckinghamba@cofc.edu.
Miranda E Jackson: Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, United States of America. Electronic address: miranda.jackson@oregonstate.edu.
Rhea D Sanders-Smith: Washington State Department of Ecology, 300 Desmond Drive SE, Lacey, WA 98503, United States of America. Electronic address: Rhea.smith@ecy.wa.gov.
Chloe L Fender: Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, United States of America. Electronic address: chloe.fender@oregonstate.edu.
George A King: CSS, Inc., 200 SW 35th St, Corvallis, OR 97333, United States of America. Electronic address: king.george@epa.gov.
Michael Bollman: US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Pacific Ecological Systems Division, Corvallis, OR 97333, United States of America. Electronic address: bollman.mike@epa.gov.
Sujay S Kaushal: Department of Geology and Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, United States of America. Electronic address: skaushal@umd.edu.
Brittany E Cunningham: Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97333, United States of America. Electronic address: cunningb@oregonstate.edu.
Sara J Hutton: GSI Environmental, Inc., Olympia, Washington 98502, USA. Electronic address: SJHutton@gsi-net.com.
Jackelyn Lang: Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Cell Biology, Department of Medicine and Epidemiology and the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center, University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Davis, CA 95616, United States of America. Electronic address: jblang@ucdavis.edu.
Heather V Goss: US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water, Office of Wastewater Management, Washington, DC 20004, United States of America. Electronic address: Goss.heather@epa.gov.
Samreen Siddiqui: Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, United States of America. Electronic address: samreen.siddiqui@oregonstate.edu.
Rebecca Sutton: San Francisco Estuary Institute, 4911 Central Ave, Richmond, CA 94804, United States of America. Electronic address: rebeccas@sfei.org.
Diana Lin: San Francisco Estuary Institute, 4911 Central Ave, Richmond, CA 94804, United States of America. Electronic address: diana@sfei.org.
Miguel Mendez: San Francisco Estuary Institute, 4911 Central Ave, Richmond, CA 94804, United States of America. Electronic address: miguelm@sfei.org.
About 3 billion new tires are produced each year and about 800 million tires become waste annually. Global dependence upon tires produced from natural rubber and petroleum-based compounds represents a persistent and complex environmental problem with only partial and often-times, ineffective solutions. Tire emissions may be in the form of whole tires, tire particles, and chemical compounds, each of which is transported through various atmospheric, terrestrial, and aquatic routes in the natural and built environments. Production and use of tires generates multiple heavy metals, plastics, PAH's, and other compounds that can be toxic alone or as chemical cocktails. Used tires require storage space, are energy intensive to recycle, and generally have few post-wear uses that are not also potential sources of pollutants (e.g., crumb rubber, pavements, burning). Tire particles emitted during use are a major component of microplastics in urban runoff and a source of unique and highly potent toxic substances. Thus, tires represent a ubiquitous and complex pollutant that requires a comprehensive examination to develop effective management and remediation. We approach the issue of tire pollution holistically by examining the life cycle of tires across production, emissions, recycling, and disposal. In this paper, we synthesize recent research and data about the environmental and human health risks associated with the production, use, and disposal of tires and discuss gaps in our knowledge about fate and transport, as well as the toxicology of tire particles and chemical leachates. We examine potential management and remediation approaches for addressing exposure risks across the life cycle of tires. We consider tires as pollutants across three levels: tires in their whole state, as particulates, and as a mixture of chemical cocktails. Finally, we discuss information gaps in our understanding of tires as a pollutant and outline key questions to improve our knowledge and ability to manage and remediate tire pollution.
