Brakes

How often do you use your brake pedal during a little trip across town? A lot, right? Think of how much brake dust is being distributed around your neighborhood, making it’s way into your precious waterways. Now, multiply that by the 240 million cars on the road in the U.S. It seems we may have a bit of a problem, huh?

Why is that a problem?

Traditional brake pads are comprised of some really nasty materials including asbestos, lead, antimony (another element) and copper. Every time you apply pressure to a brake pedal, it causes your brake pads to squeeze on your brake rotor, which causes friction, and in turn, causes these nasty materials to be abraded off your pads in the form of brake dust. This brake dust winds up in the environment, contaminating large expanses of soil and waterways. Each car on the road, including your own, contributes to this problem.

One of the biggest impacts this debris has, is that on our waterways - this includes our aquatic life such as fish, amphibians and phytoplankton. Salmon is one of the species known to be affected by the introduction of copper to our waterways. Increasing amounts of copper can impede the salmon’s sensory organs, including their sense of smell. That lack of smell makes them susceptible to predators and unable to find their way back to their breeding grounds. The consequence is a massive decrease in our salmon population making them an endangered species.

Luckily, there are some companies stepping up to the plate to solve this problem. A few companies have come up with eco-friendly brake pads that are better for the environment yet don’t sacrifice performance. These companies are limiting, or in some cases excluding altogether, the use of the toxic materials mentioned above, as well as decreasing the amount of brake dust being released into the environment. The pads are made with ceramic and bio-degradable materials that naturally decompose rather than pollute our surroundings. They are also made with recycled materials, with some products containing as much as 90% recycled raw materials. The paint used is water-based in order to eliminate the pollution created by solvent-based paints. Can’t lose here.

These pads claim to be quiet and rotor friendly. They also claim to last longer, create minimal brake dust and have fantastic stopping power. With performance paralleling, or even exceeding that of traditional brake pads, and the eco-friendly approach being taken, these new environmentally safe pads will hopefully change how we think about brake pads.

States such as California and Washington have already passed legislation that will eventually remove all copper from brake pads. Rhode Island and New York have introduced similar bills. These new bills will eventually rid our precious waterways of the nasty and harmful contaminates that are being deposited into our environment due to traditional brake dust.  For more information on these legislations, check out EcoStop’s Copper Legislation page.

We here at Earthgarage support these bills of legislation and hope you will too. Only we, as fellow drivers and consumers, can make a difference. So, the next time you hear that obnoxious squeal coming from your brakes, consider going green with eco-friendly brake pads. Let’s save our waterways one pad at a time. And, as always, please let us know how these pads have worked for you.