A subsidiary of the prominent automotive manufacturer Audi – The Audi Environmental Foundation – has started working with Technical University of Berlin to filter our tire wear particles containing microplastics and other substances which, reportedly, harm the environment. More information about tire wear particles and how microplastics harms the environment can be found here.

In its press release, Audi writes: “The Audi Environmental Foundation is involved in several projects to protect bodies of water. In the URBANFILTER project, Audi is developing optimized sediment filters for urban runoff in collaboration with the Technical University of Berlin. They trap microplastics in tire wear and other pollutant particles before they are flushed into sewers and waterways along with rainwater. A modular system consisting of nine different filter modules ensures that they achieve the best filtration results across a wide range of road and traffic conditions. Intelligently connecting data from various sources ensures that the filters are serviced and cleaned at the right time.”

The news was highlighted during the Greentech Festival 2021 in Berlin, Germany. This year, the 2021 festival was held as a hybrid event both live on site at Kraftwerk Berlin and digitally on visitors’ computers, laptops, and smartphones. The lineup included keynotes, panel discussions, boot camps, and deep dives. On June 17, Oliver Hoffmann, Board Member for Technical Development at Audi, offered insights as a keynote speaker into how Audi is promoting the expansion of renewable energy sources.

Besides Audi’s work on filtering tire wear particles, the company also announced partnerships with energy providers (Audi funding expansion of renewable energy sources) and projects on chemical recycling of plastics from automotive manufacturing.

More information on Audi’s work on filtering tire wear particles is available here.