11-07-2025
Drivers warned of destructive trend on Aussie roads inflicting 100,000-tonne problem
There are growing calls for drivers to rethink their purchase of large vehicles, as the continued demand for SUVs and popularity of utes and caravans on Aussie roads contribute to a staggering tyre pollution problem in the country.
More than 100,000 tonnes of rubber fragments are being added to the environment every year due to friction on Australian roads, according to a recent report by Tyre Stewardship Australia. This has been a growing issue since cars first became mainstream, but the uptick in sales of heavier and larger vehicles is simply compounding the problem.
"The real issue is, as vehicles get larger and heavier, regardless of how they're powered, we see more tyre wear because of the increased weight and road friction," Hussein Dia, Professor of Future Urban Mobility at Swinburne University, told Yahoo News.
Dia said 40 per cent of the vehicles on Australian roads are now SUVs, and they made up nearly half of all new vehicle sales last year.
Simple physics dictate that larger and heavier vehicles require larger and heavier wheels, and with a tyre shedding 16 per cent of its weight over its lifetime, tiny microplastics are being released into the environment at an alarming rate.
Councils are battling to reduce the number of tyre dumps with new regulations. However, Australian drivers are going through more tyres than ever, reports The Age.
Electric vehicles (EVs) have also been called out for contributing to the increasing problem of tyre pollution. While EVs are heavier than petrol or diesel-powered cars due to their battery packs — up to 400 kilograms heavier, according to Dia — it's not simply a case of labelling them as 'bad'.
EVs counter the environmental impact in other ways.
"Braking is a big factor that increases tyre pollution and EVs have an advantage in this case," Dia explained. "They use what we call regenerative braking... If people just take their foot off the pedal, it actually starts to slow on its own. There's less reliance on braking pads, and therefore, it actually produces less pollutants."
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He also pointed to the overall environmental benefits of an EV compared to petrol or diesel-powered cars, including reduced air pollution and a shift away from fossil fuel reliance.
"We cannot blame electrification alone for this issue, it [was] an issue even before electric vehicles were here," he said.
Despite larger vehicles becoming increasingly popular, infrastructure is struggling to keep up. Yahoo News has reported on multiple incidents where increased vehicle size has caused parking frustration, like the time a Melbourne resident spotted a huge ute parked diagonally over two parking spaces in a busy car park.
There have been calls for large vehicle owners to pay more tax due to worsening pollution and congestion caused by having them on the road. There is also an increased safety concern for other vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists if involved in a collision with a large vehicle, due to its size and weight.
Associate Professor Milad Haghani, an expert in urban resilience at the University of Melbourne, told Yahoo News in May that a large vehicle, twice the size of a smaller car, will have 16 times the impact when it comes to road damage.
This is due to the fourth power law "which is a [well] known thing in pavement engineering that says the amount of damage is proportional to the fourth power of its axle weight. So if the axle weight is doubled, the impact is 16 times bigger."
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