A Sustainable World Needs Sustainable Tires

 

We’ve known for decades that the CO2 emitted from our vehicles is horrible for the environment. Even if you’ve ignored the science that connects tailpipe emissions to climate change, the brown hue in the sky about any major city is a good visual representation of what we’re doing to the planet with each commute.

Less known, and only recently garnering any coverage in the press, are tire particulates. Oh sure, at one point in all of our lives we’ve “burned rubber” by stomping the accelerator and marveling at the black signature of our hubris left upon the asphalt. But it’s unlikely that we connected those marks on the road with the idea that bits of plastic (some of which from tires) would eventually end up in our bodies.

The tire particulate issue isn’t new, but the public’s awareness of it is. Like the news that microplastics have permeated the entire ecosystem and some of these pieces of petroleum reside within our bodies, the abrasion rate (the rate at which material from a tire is worn off) of tires and their effect on our environment has only hit the public consciousness in the past few years. 

A 2020 SYSTEMIQ study using 2016 data revealed that 78% of the microplastics found in the ocean are from tire dust—an incredible statistic that reframed how many look at the tires on their vehicles. 

That news has recently been combined with the knowledge that, overall, EVs are heavier than their gas-powered counterparts. However, the growing number of large pickups—including the number-one selling vehicle in the U.S. for over four decades—has contributed far more to the current crisis. Still, the move to EVs will result in heavier vehicles that high higher abrasion rates.

Like the rest of the industry super-charged into action by both consumer and regulatory demands for sustainability, tire companies have been working towards more eco-friendly solutions. For its part, Michelin recently held a Sustainability Summit in Northern California. The daylong event covered what the company has and will continue to do to reduce its impact on the environment. 

One interesting item is the longevity of Michelin tires. For decades, the tire maker has worked to increase the amount of miles a driver gets from a set of Michelin tires. This is done without adding additional materials to the tires. Michelin was even called out by a German ADAC study in 2023. According to the group, Michelin’s average tire abrasion rate was 28% lower than the average tires from other brands on the road in Germany.

 At the summit, Michelin shared its three tenets of its pursuit of mobility: people, planet, profit. The company sees sustainability as incredibly important and is actively working towards improving its processes and products. For instance, when a team is sent to build a more sustainable tire, it needs to do so using materials that will allow the tire to be manufactured at scale. 

The tire maker also uses a lifecycle assessment to determine the impact of a tire from cradle to grave. The largest impact the tire has during its lifecycle (a whopping 80%) is on the vehicle. A sustainable material might look great on paper, but if it reduces the longevity of tire itself and wears quicker than Michelin standards, it’s not as great for the environment as it may seem.

 “For us, it’s people, profit, planet. We care about all of them at the same time with the same intensity and that’s how we think we’re going to be sustainable,” Michelin North America president and CEO Alexis Garcin told SAE at the company’s sustainability summit.

Garcin said that the company intends to continue maximizing performance while limiting the impact on the environment. Michelin currently has a tire made with 42% renewable materials and plans to have tires that are 100% renewable by 2050.

 As we move ever closer to a more sustainable world, it’s important to note that vehicles are more than just a measurement of tailpipe emissions. Tire wear, recyclability, and other topics are on the minds of everyone in the industry and regulatory commissions. Michelin’s sustainability summit was an important moment for not just this tire maker, but for all of them. They’ve entered the chat and now it’s time to get to work.