BRUSSELS — The European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers' Association (ETRMA) has launched a study into the "fate and possible effects" of tire and road-wear particles generated during tire use.
The study builds on a wider 10-year-long work carried out by the Tire Industry Project (TIP) — an initiative launched in 2006 to monitor potential environmental and health issues relating to the life-cycle impacts of tires — under the umbrella of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
The new study, ETRMA said, is "supported by an independent scientific advisory board — which has validated its approach and protocol — and should be completed before the end of 2017."
The results of the ETRMA study will feed into a European Commission investigation into options for reducing releases in the aquatic environment of micro-plastics.
There are very different figures circulating on the impact of these particles on the environment, ETRMA President Christian Kötz said, commenting after the first of two annual meetings of ETRMA's board of directors, on April 6.