Tackling air pollution puts Swindon company CMS SupaTrak on award shortlist

CMS SupaTrak worked on a project with UK Parliamentary Committee for Transport Safety chair Barry Sheerman MP to create a mobile air monitoring device.

This gadget can be fitted to refuse trucks and will help councils to monitor and better understand the air quality in the area.

The firm's managing director Jason Airey said: "Barry expressed his concern that whilst we were able to use technology to improve the safety of vehicles, nothing was being done to understand the damage that vehicles were causing to the environment with air pollution.

"We realised that we had a perfect solution to provide the monitoring. Waste vehicles regularly visit every location in the UK so they would be an ideal way of collecting this vital data.

"Working in partnership with our colleagues and customers in the waste and environment industries, we now have a device that fully-integrates with the vehicle’s onboard telematics and maps the air pollution accurately.

"This means that councils can now have definitive proof of how they are meeting government guidelines on air quality and sight of where they are not.”

Refuse vehicle manufacturer Dennis Eagle fitted the equipment to its demonstration vehicle and the City of London council is working closely with CMS to calibrate the monitors with their current static monitoring systems.

This good work has put CMS on the shortlist for the Investors in People awards' outstanding use of technology category.

Mr Airey added: "Shockingly, the World Health Organisation estimates that around a million UK citizens will die from air pollution related diseases in the next 20 years if existing government policies are followed.

"It’s clear that stronger policies, and more stringent monitoring of air quality is vital.

"I’m delighted that we’ve been able to lead the way in developing a solution for councils to gather that localised and accurate data they will need to bring about air quality improvements.”