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Features of the highway road network that generate or retain tyre wear particles

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Abstract

The environmental accumulation of microplastics poses a formidable global challenge, with tyre wear particles (TWPs) emerging as major and potentially harmful contributors to this particulate pollution. A critical pathway for TWPs to aquatic environments is via road drainage. While drainage assets are employed worldwide, their effectiveness in retaining microplastics of highly variable densities (TWP ~ 1–2.5 g cm3) remains unknown. This study examines their ability to impede the transfer of TWPs from the UK Strategic Road Network (SRN) to aquatic ecosystems. Samples were collected from the influent, effluent and sediments of three retention ponds and three wetlands. The rate of TWP generation is known to vary in response to vehicle speed and direction. To ascertain the significance of this variability, we further compared the mass of TWPs in drainage from curved and straight sections of the SRN across eight drainage outfalls. Pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC–MS) was used to quantify tyre wear using benzothiazole as a molecular marker for TWPs (with an internal standard benzothiazole-D4). Tyre wear was present in drainage from the SRN at concentrations of 2.86 ± 6 mg/L and was found within every sample analysed. Drainage from curved sections of the SRN contained on average a 40% greater TWP mass than straight sections but this was not significant. The presence of wetlands and retention ponds generally led to a reduction in TWP mass (74.9% ± 8.2). This effect was significant for retention ponds but not for wetlands; most probably due to variability among sites and sampling occasions. Similar drainage assets are used on a global scale; hence our results are of broad relevance to the management of TWP pollution.

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Data availability

The dataset generated from the current study are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10785205.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank National Highways engineers Christopher Peirce and Louise Hadley-Jones as well as Emily Norman, Natalie Smith, Zara Botterell and Imogen Napper from the University of Plymouth for their support and assistance of this work. This work has been specifically prepared for Environmental Science and Pollution Research and is part of a larger study commissioned and funded by the National Highways (Microplastics Phase 2, T0051), managed by Atkins, and in collaboration with Jacobs.

Funding

FPJ was also supported by European Union INTERREG France (Channel) England funded project ‘Preventing Plastic Pollution’ co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and RCT by the Natural Environment Research Council project (TYRE LOSS NE/V00185X/1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drakes Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK

    Florence N. F. Parker-Jurd, Gustav M. C. Parker-Jurd & Richard C. Thompson

  2. School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Drummond Building, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK

    Geoffrey D. Abbott & Bill Guthery

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  1. Florence N. F. Parker-Jurd
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  4. Gustav M. C. Parker-Jurd
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Contributions

Authors RCT and FPJ contributed to the conception of the work and formulation of the experimental design. Material preparation, field sampling/data collection, and analysis were performed by GA, BG, FPJ, and GPJ. The first draft of the manuscript was written by FPJ and RT. All the authors commented on versions of the manuscript, and read, edited, and approved the final manuscript for publication.

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Correspondence to Florence N. F. Parker-Jurd.

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Parker-Jurd, F.N.F., Abbott, G.D., Guthery, B. et al. Features of the highway road network that generate or retain tyre wear particles. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 26675–26685 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32769-1

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