A MACHINE, created by a creative Kidderminster man to clean car exhausts, has won a prestigious environment award.

Sean Cole's COSSU machine, which dispenses 'AdBlue' fluid to clean diesel exhausts of poisonous gases, is designed for use at petrol stations and car parks.

If all diesel car drivers filled up their AdBlue with the COSSU instead of buying a standard single-use container, Sean calculates it would remove 4,000 tonnes of plastic from the environment.

Sean, 53, said: "In response to the predicted demand in AdBlue in cars, I was tasked two years ago by my previous employer, Brenntag Ag, to come up with solutions for the European market

"I came up with two concepts – a small pack, specially designed to dispense cleanly and quickly into all vehicles, and a unique dispenser that could be sited at petrol stations, workshops, repair centres, dealerships, car parks, even individual businesses with large company car fleets.

Kidderminster Shuttle:

"I approached my current employer, Commercial Fuel Solutions, to develop and realise my invention, as they had excellent engineering and technical resource."

The COSSU is a token or contactless-operated self-service unit.

Sean added: "With the increased awareness over single use plastic waste, we decided to enter the dispenser for an environmental award at the APEA – the main fuel retailing organisation in the UK."

The APEA awarded Sean's team the Environmental Protection and Improvement Award at the awards dinner in November.

Sean said: "We were really pleased to win the award because that’s the award to win in this industry."