Gary’s Q&A

Listener question & Gary’s response · Transcript passage

Jesus Chan asks If there are millions of vehicles on our roads and highways, why aren’t there piles of rubber from all the worn tires, on the sides of the roads? Where does all that rubber go?

Jesus, this is a really good question, and the answer is something you will probably find disturbing.

You might have heard of something called microplastics. Microplastics are, as the name would suggest, microscopic pieces of plastic. They have been found……everywhere. They have been found in Antarctica, in the deep ocean, in the rain, in the air, in food, and in our bodies. Microplastics have been found in human blood in our lungs.

The subject of microplastics is probably something for a future episode. However, the biggest source of microplastics, by at least two orders of magnitude, comes from automobile tires.

So, the reason you don’t see piles of rubber is because it gets spread everywhere.