Posted on Tuesday 15th March 2022
Encouraging employees and customers to switch off their engines when parked up are amongst the activities in a new campaign to help raise awareness of improving air quality in Staffordshire.
The two-week Anti-Idling campaign is being delivered by Staffordshire County council and local businesses, including HellermannTyton and Amey who have signed up. During the campaign, businesses will be encouraging employees to turn off their engines when they aren’t in use. Schools have also taken the opportunity to get involved.
Over 100 organisations have already signed up to the campaign sharing the message that idling impacts on the health of individuals.
At Queens Hospital in Burton today, Tuesday 15th March, the Air Aware team will be encouraging staff and visitors to turn off their vehicles when parked up, along with providing support to cyclists with Dr Bike health checks and repairs. Cycle maintenance, training, led rides and walks along with other active travel activities are also available in Burton which all help to reduce air pollution in the town.
David Williams, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for highways and transport said:
We know that air pollution from vehicles can cause many health issues and it’s important we do what we can to improve air quality.
Businesses of all sizes contribute to poor air, but they can also have a big impact in improving it and we’ll support them to do this. Businesses can also help by encouraging staff to visit the air aware page and make a pledge to make a small change.
It’s great to see Staffordshire companies including Amey signing up to our campaign and great to see the efforts they are making to help reduce air pollution. Our message is really simple and will help to raise everyone’s awareness of the small, easy things we can all do to reduce air pollution and help us all breathe easier.”
William Shipley, environmental graduate for Amey – Staffordshire Highways said:
For the past 12 months, we have undertaken an Anti-Idling campaign across our highways depots to help reduce the impact of emissions from our operational fleet. This is as part of Amey’s strive to help local air quality and carbon emissions from unnecessary vehicle engine idling.
Since the campaign began in March 2021, we have kept the air cleaner by reducing our idling times by 87%, saving 1,100kg of carbon being emitted into the atmosphere each month and saving over £6,000 worth of fuel over the year. We have done this all by monitoring idling times at our sites and depot’s via vehicle telematics.”
It is estimated that around 390 deaths per year are attributable to poor air quality in Staffordshire every year.
People can find out more and get involved in the two-week campaign to reduce their pollution at www.staffordshire.gov.uk/stopbusinessidling