Poor air quality, with diesel the biggest culprit, is now thought to be the cause of 40,000 deaths in the UK each year. But while cars and lorries have attracted most attention, less reported is the contribution of other polluters to the problem, particularly construction sites. According to the most detailed air-quality study in the UK, the London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory, construction sites are responsible for approximately 7.5% of damaging nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, 8% of large particle emissions (PM10) and 14.5% of emissions of the most dangerous fine particles (PM2.5). While a small amount of this (about 1%) is dust from site activities like demolition, the vast majority comes from the thousands of diesel diggers, generators and other machines operating on sites.

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