Sometimes it seems impossible to be sustainable. If you want to put a meal on the table without meat, it turns out that 320 liters of water are needed to produce that one avocado. Something like soy also turns out to be bad. And if you charge your electric car with solar energy, you still generate emissions due to the wear of the tires and brakes. And the EU now wants to do something about it.
The EU is now busy making the Euro 7 rules. These are the new emission requirements that all new cars must meet in 2025. As part of the new standards the EU wants to ‘regulate emissions from brakes and tires’. They want to set limits on how much emissions can come from tires and brakes. This emission is also known as microplastic.
It is not yet known how much emissions car tires may cause
It is not yet known what the emissions per tire may be. It is also not yet known how the EU intends to measure emissions. The rules for Euro 7 are therefore not yet final. In 2024, the EU must come up with a complete proposal with the requirements for tires and the measurement method. The EU distinguishes between normal tyres, snow tires and ‘special’ tyres, which include off-road tyres, for example.
According to TNO, microplastics are pieces of plastic that are smaller than 5 millimeters. According to TNO, car tires account for 35 percent of microplastic emissions. The rest comes, for example, from plastic bags, foil that is used in agriculture and a lot also comes off clothing, for example when you wash the clothing.
Microplastic ends up in the air, in drinking water and eventually also in our food. According to the World Health Organization, there is not yet enough data to conclude how safe or unsafe microplastics are for humans. Either way, it won’t make you any better.
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