Clean Air GM. What does this mean for UBU?

In a world where Covid-19 is dominating the news and social media, it’s easy to miss other life changing news which has equal importance for Mancunians and those from other regions who visit our city for leisure or business.

On October 8^th, Greater Manchester launched its second Clean Air Zone consultation which seeks to engage with the public and businesses in a bid to reduce vehicle emissions that continue to harm our planet.

The proposed scheme which is due to launch in April 2022 will cover all ten local authority areas in Greater Manchester and will be the largest Clean Air Zone outside of London, operating on a 24/7 basis.

You are able to participate in this consultation by clicking here;

From the plans currently outlined, vehicles with engines that do not meet the minimum standard of Euro 6 will be expected to pay daily charges for entering the specified zones.

For these vehicles that are deemed “non-compliant”, there will be significant support available to ensure that businesses currently operating in the Clean Air Zone can continue to do so without paying the charges.

GM have been awarded an initial £7.6 million of funding towards the upgrade of HGV’s, which will apply to companies with non-compliant vehicles, so business owners are able to either:

Retrofit existing vehicles to a compliant standard using systems certified via the Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme
Replacement grants dependent on the size of the existing vehicle
Vehicle finance offer with a contribution capped at £8,000 per vehicle

UBU Environmental Ltd are aware that as a business who operates a fleet of HGV vehicles, we have a huge responsibility to commit to a continuous investment in a Euro 6 fleet so that we can continue to offer our road sweeping services in hot spots without incurring the proposed penalty charge.

As such, we have placed orders to add another 12 Euro 6 compliant road sweepers to our fleet over the next 12 months which means that including our existing Euro 6 Sweepers and Jet Vac whale tanker, up to 80% of our fleet will be compliant and so will avoid the proposed emission levy.

We see this as a much more sustainable option to retrofitting our older, non-compliant vehicles as our investments in the new Euro 6 Sweepers will give us a far more modern fleet that will be able to operate for longer than if we were to retrofit older Sweepers.

The existing Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEV) in London has already shown us how plans like this can improve air quality, as in the first 6 months they were able to cut toxic air pollution by a third, as well as reducing the amount of non-compliant vehicles being driven in the zone daily by 38%.

Now, it’s our turn to make a difference. As proud supporters of these plans to protect our planet, we urge anyone who hasn’t already to complete the GM Clean Air Questionnaire, to have their say on what these plans should look like.

Get involved now!