Deadly Dust

Deadly dust. How The Tyre Collective’s campaign left microplastic pollution in the rearview.

What’s the truth?

Car tyre dust is a major source of microplastic waste in our oceans, with one study putting it at 28%. So when The Tyre Collective had come up with a new electrostatic alternative, they needed a campaign that would put it on the world’s dashboard.

How’d we turn it up?

We knew we couldn’t simply ask people not to use their cars. Instead, we focused on visually communicating the problem and subsequent solution. We called the campaign "Deadly Dust", showing the journey of tyre particles through gentle, delicate horror.

We went all in on

Statistic card on pink: making tyres takes about 7 gallons of oil per car tyre and 22 per truck tyre (Newsweek, 2019)

Chart of projected PM2.5 emissions from road transport, showing non-exhaust emissions rising as exhaust emissions fall

Statistic card: new cars emit little exhaust pollution, but unregulated tyre wear pollution can be 1,000 times worse (Emissions Analytics, 2020)

Grainy black and white halftone image of a single car tyre

Statistic card: airborne microplastics are hard to track because the smallest particles travel on the wind (Norwegian Institute for Air Research, 2020)

Black and white halftone photo of a pile of discarded tyres

Quote on dark purple: the smallest particles may matter most for health because they can be inhaled and enter the blood (Andreas Stohl, NILU, 2020)

Street hoarding by HOW+HOW and The Tyre Collective: 'Tyres, the unseen mega polluter' and 'Your car tyres keep travelling long after you've stopped'

Street billboard about the tonnes of tyre particles smaller than 0.01mm deposited each year, with almost half ending up in the ocean

Glowing ring around a purple circle on a pale pink gradient

Wheel-and-globe line graphics on navy with the line 'What goes round, gets around'

'The Deadly Gradient': a colour scale running from 'Tyre' to 'Cloud of dust' and beyond

'Tyre wear pollution is 1,000 times worse than exhaust pollution' over a dark red and mint gradient

'It lands.' in white over a dark globe of latitude and longitude lines on a pink gradient

The Tyre Collective's device: a white collector unit fitted beside a car tyre, on a wooden stand

Developed at Imperial College and the Royal College of Art, the Tyre Collective have designed a product which uses electrostatics to capture tyre wear in action.

The device is positioned close to where the tyre touches the road, taking advantage of various air flows around a spinning wheel. Captured particulates are gathered in a removable storage unit. Once collected, these fragments are processed and can be reused, creating a closed-loop system. Particles under 50 microns are small enough to be reused in new tyre production; while other applications include 3D printing, soundproofing, and inks and dyes.

Three posters on a concrete wall spelling 'Tyred of pollution?' over gradient circle patterns

"We were thrilled to work alongside HOW+HOW on the Deadly Dust campaign to raise awareness on tyre wear, a stealthy source of microplastic pollution. Tackling the complex problem of tyre wear requires bringing people across disciplines and industries, working together to truly make an impact. We're really excited to see HOW+HOW tackling it in such an innovative way."

Hanson Cheng, Co-Founder, The Tyre Collective

Deadly Dust

What’s the truth?

How’d we turn it up?

We went all in on

Credits