The Tyre Collective - mitigating tyre emissions by capturing them at the source

by Startacus Admin

The Tyre Collective is a London-based cleantech startup that's building innovative solutions to save our air from the pollution caused by tyre wear

We all know that cars and other road traffic are highly pollutant. After all, the UK has banned all new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030 on, in a move towards electric-only. However, emissions from the engine are only 50% of the issue - a vehicle’s tyres actually account for half of air particulate emissions from road traffic, and they are also the second biggest microplastic pollutant floating in the oceans. 

Friction against the road rubs off tiny particles of the tyre every time they touch it, every time we turn a corner, every time we drive anywhere. These particulates obviously get into the air and into our lungs, but they also enter the water and soil. It might sound like a small problem, but the UK Department for Transport reports that in a journey of only 16km, an average car will release 2.08g of tyre dust into the air, and this is actually worse in electric vehicles, because they tend to be heavier and more torquey.

London-based cleantech startup The Tyre Collective is dedicated to creating solutions to this pollution, capturing and monitoring tyre wear at the source. Not only this, but the device that they have built captures those particles as they come off the tyre. Because the carbon in the rubber particles is positively charged, the device can capture them in a similar way to rubbing a balloon on a certain kind of surface and then sticking it to the wall. In its current state, the startup’s device captures 60% of released particles. The device also separates the different sizes of particles, which can then be reused in various applications, including creating new tyres, and for inks and dyes.

In November 2020, The Tyre Collective was entered into the James Dyson Award - fitting, as the startup was founded by Dyson School of Design Engineering students - and came away as the National Winner for their innovation. This year, Tech Nation announced that the startup will be a part of the second cohort of its government-backed Net Zero Growth accelerator programme, along with Sourceful, another startup we wrote about recently.

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• #cleantech
• #environment
• #transport
• #innovation

Published on: 8th October 2021