Earth Team Awarded $300,000 Grant to Study Tire Pollution in Bay Area Communities
A two-year youth-led research project training 168 paid high school interns to investigate tire and road wear pollution in environmental justice communities.
Funded by the California Air Resources Board | 2025–2027
The Problem
Non-exhaust pollution from tires and brakes remains largely unaddressed.
Every time a vehicle brakes or accelerates, tiny particles shed from tires and brake pads. These tire and road wear particles contain harmful chemicals and heavy metals that accumulate near the freeways that run through our most vulnerable neighborhoods. While tailpipe emissions have received significant attention, non-exhaust pollution from tires and brakes remains largely unaddressed. Communities near major highways bear a disproportionate burden of this pollution. The neighborhoods we’ll be studying are low-income and majority-minority communities that deserve information about what’s in the air they breathe and the soil where their children play.
What We’ll Do
Working with students from four Bay Area school districts (WCCUSD, OUSD, AUSD, and PUSD), our interns will collect road dust samples from schools and communities near four major freeway corridors. They’ll analyze these samples for zinc (a key marker of tire wear), copper, antimony, and barium from brake pads, and toxic chemicals like 6PPD-quinone, which has been linked to salmon die-offs in urban streams. Our young researchers will collect data, interpret it, visualize it, and present their findings to decision-makers. Past Earth Team interns have presented to city councils, county boards, and state agencies. This project continues that tradition of youth-led environmental advocacy.
Why It Matters
As electric vehicles become more common, tailpipe emissions will decline, but tire and brake wear will remain. In fact, the heavier batteries in EVs may actually increase tire wear. Understanding non-exhaust pollution now is essential for protecting public health in the decades to come. This project brings together participatory science, workforce development, and environmental justice. Our interns, primarily from low-income neighborhoods and youth of color, will gain paid STEM experience while generating data their own communities need.
Our Partners
We’re collaborating with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the University of Miami, Ohio and researchers from the San Francisco Estuary Institute to ensure our methodology meets high scientific standards while remaining accessible to high school students.
