Origo Industries Ltd., a North West business that’s developed a device that halves carbon emission in vehicles, is the latest monthly winner of the Merseyside Innovation Awards.

The firm, which has its manufacturing base in Liverpool, has also been shortlisted for the £10,000 cash prize at this year’s annual final in July.

The judging panel said Origo showed outstanding innovation in the competition with its Ecobox device, which captures and converts carbon dioxide emissions.

“We have a potentially revolutionary product with the Ecobox, which can significantly reduce CO2 emissions when fitted to vehicles or buildings,” said Ian Houston (pictured at left), founder and chief executive of Origo. Captured emissions, he added, “can then be recycled into biodiesel through a technique which transforms resultant emissions to algae through a bioreactor.”

Houston continued, “If one million cars were fitted with the Ecobox, they would remove over 8,000 tones of CO2 from the atmosphere a day. Winning the awards would provide much needed funding to bring us one step closer to achieving this goal.”

The Ecobox is an outstanding piece of equipment which could have a dramatic impact on our environment,” said Steve Mulvaney, digital and creative industries broker for Business Link Northwest, one of the sponsors of the awards. “Origo are extremely worthy finalists and their innovative ideas are bound to leave some people green with envy.”

Origo’s Ecobox is currently undergoing a trial at Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport to capture the Co2 exhaled by passengers.

Martyn Best (pictured at right) of Paver Smith, one of the awards’ sponsors, presented Houston with the monthly award.”

The Merseyside Innovation Awards, now in their 14th year, acknowledge the use of innovation as a means of boosting local growth and profitability, and are open to individuals or companies with fewer than 50 employees based within Merseyside.

As well as the cash prize, the final annual winner will receive  £4,000 worth of legal, business, PR, accounting or design consultancy with support from some of the region’s leading business advisors and publicity for the idea.

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