Yara won the Environmental Protection and Improvement Award for its AdBlue Pouch for the Passenger Car Market at the recent APEA Live event.

Anticipating the rapidly booming demand for AdBlue for passenger cars, the company has developed a custom-designed packaging solution with considerably less plastic than conventional AdBlue canisters.

Yara’s UK business manager in the UK, Paul Norman said: "AdBlue is a fluid used to remove harmful NOx emissions from diesel engines. This year some three million new diesel cars using AdBlue to clean the exhaust will hit European roads. Drivers will head for relevant retail outlets – like fuel stations – to refill their vehicles, resulting inevitably in millions of empty AdBlue containers. Using almost 200g less plastic than the alternative AdBlue canister – the pouch delivers a 74% saving on a like-for-like basis."

Norman said the AdBlue by Yara pouch is a bespoke, integrated design for AdBlue refills. Once emptied, the pouch is completely flat, taking up virtually no space.

"Compared to rigid canisters this is a major benefit for the retailer – who would otherwise be lumbered with virtual mountains of plastic canisters on their forecourts," explained Norman. "And for society at large the benefit is equally meaningful – the pouch having minimal impact on landfills."

The APEA Environmental Protection and Improvement Award “… recognises individuals, organisations, products or services that have had the biggest positive impact on environmental protection during the past 12 months …”.

 “I am honoured that our new packaging solution has been recognised as an innovative and effective approach to the NOx emissions issue," added Norman. "The citizens of the UK, as well as elsewhere, have a right to clean air. AdBlue provides that – and packed in our pouch it does so leaving a minimal CO2 footprint.”

A world leader in the emissions reduction area, Yara is already supplying the heavy-duty vehicles with AdBlue by Yara, removing dangerous NOx from the exhaust.

“The big AdBlue tanks on trucks, lorries and buses are largely served through bulk dispensers. Passenger cars have smaller tanks and bulk dispensers are less feasible," said Norman. "Protecting the planet is Yara’s mission. With the pouch we have developed a means to manifest our mission in practice: diesel cars emit less of the greenhouse gas CO2 than petrol cars. With AdBlue by Yara the dangerous NOx is removed. And packed in a pouch it leaves less plastic. Less waste.”