The Tire Industry Project (TIP) is conducting a pilot project with the Greater Paris Sanitation Authority (SIAAP) and sustainability consultancy ERM to test how effectively wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) can potentially remove tire and road wear particles (TRWP). This study will run through 2026 at SIAAP’s Valenton wastewater treatment plant near Paris, France – the second largest in Europe and one of the most advanced facilities that is broadly representative of modern municipal wastewater treatment plants.
Why is this important?
In many cities around the world, rainwater and road runoff are treated by wastewater systems before being released back into waterways such as rivers. Understanding how effective wastewater treatment processes treat TRWP could inform more widespread implementation of best practices in wastewater management.
To date, there is limited evidence that systematically quantifies the removal of TRWP in WWTP. This project is expected to generate robust, end-to-end data, providing a holistic picture and filling a critical knowledge gap.
It is also TIP’s first, real-world test of one of the nine priority TRWP mitigation measures identified in its white paper, Commitment to Addressing Tire and Road Wear Particles.
How does the pilot work?
Between now and the end of 2026, the pilot will aim to analyze samples collected at key treatment stages at the Valenton plant using advanced laboratory techniques, including pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (PY-GC/MS). It will then estimate how much TRWP is removed across the full treatment process.
Results are expected to be submitted to a scientific journal for peer review, with final publication likely in early 2027.
From knowledge to action: Researching and assessing potential mitigation measures
TRWP remains an evolving and extremely complex field of study, given the lack of harmonization, the varying characteristics of TRWP and their transformational products as well as the diverse environmental compartments through which they move.
In addition to supporting standardization and setting limits for tire abrasion, TIP and its member companies have committed to advancing the scientific understanding of TRWP to enable science-based mitigation approaches. TIP has been conducting and supporting research to strengthen the knowledge base—specifically around TRWP quantification, characterization, environmental migration and potential impact—while engaging with stakeholders across the value chain to support evidence-based mitigation.
In 2024, TIP published a Commitment to Addressing Tire and Road Wear Particles, which evaluated more than 50 different mitigation measures found in scientific literature. It then prioritized nine of them based on their potential to reduce TRWP, both upstream and downstream, using a three-part approach: prevention, containment, and removal.
While prioritizing nine measures, the paper emphasizes that there is no one-size-fits-all or a single-actor solution. Achieving meaningful progress requires implementation of multiple measures at scale, through multifaceted actions across all actors involved in TRWP generation and management – including the tire, road construction and automotive industries, alongside municipal authorities, academia, and other public and private stakeholders.
At the same time, the review also showed that none of the mitigation measures analyzed have yet been proven to be effective, specifically regarding TRWP, and would require on-ground assessment.
In that regard, the Valenton pilot represents TIP’s first initiative to test the real-world efficacy of wastewater management in removing TRWP, bringing together multiple stakeholders from the public and private sector.
“This pilot is an important step in going beyond understanding the subject in the laboratory to field-based evidence,” said Larisa Kryachkova, Executive Director at TIP. “We expect to identify best practices that can be applied far beyond this project, supporting TIP’s ambition to support science-based mitigation.”
“As the public authority responsible for wastewater treatment in the Paris region, SIAAP is committed to emerging science that protects waterways,” said Sabrina Guérin, Head of Innovation department, SIAAP. “By taking part in this TIP study, we will gain an early, science-based view of TRWP movement in solid waste. The findings can help inform and accompany future treatment planning and readiness for upcoming regulatory requirements.”