YOU can’t see it, smell it or taste it - but experts claim air pollution is as big a threat to your health as smoking or obesity.

Air pollution in Glasgow is to blame for early deaths every year, from strokes, heart attacks, asthma attacks and lung cancer.

So if you could have the chance to test the air quality around you and take steps to improve it, would you take it?

The CleanSpace tag is the world’s first personal air pollution smart sensor and the Evening Times has been given two to test.

My colleague Stuart Sandler, one of our sub editors, and myself have been carrying tags around for 48 hours.

It’s the perfect time to try it as tomorrow is National Clean Air Day, organised by charity Global Action Plan and backed by local councils, NHS boards and charities from across the UK.

I test out the air quality in Glasgow city centre and in Govanhill while Stuart has his out and about in Bishopbriggs.

Our tags are linked by Bluetooth to an app on our mobile phones and show levels of pollution in graph form as well as tracking how we travel to tell us how many CleanMiles we’ve travelled - that is, pollution free miles.

Hope Street and Renfield Street are renowned city hot spots for pollution with campaigners such as Friends of the Earth previously working with the Evening Times to highlight the issue.

So when I take a lunchtime walk down Renfield Street I’m expecting to find air pollution levels rising to amber.

But the monitor stays green.

In fact, for the 48 hours I use the CleanSpace tag, the pollution levels around me are mostly in the green zone.

For the first 24 hours I encounter 92 per cent green levels and eight per cent amber.

For the second 24 hours that drops a tiny bit to 94 per cent green and four per cent amber.

Over the two days I travel 19 miles and nine of these are CleanMiles. I’m not sure this can be accurate as I used my car for two very short journeys, travelling on foot or by bike for the rest.

But I’m told the app becomes more accurate the more you use it.

Over the course of the two days my reading only rises to amber as I cycle through the Gorbals and back to Govanhill. Gorbals Street and Pollokshaws Road have the highest levels of pollution, as does the area outside my flat.

I was expecting Stuart, who lives in the suburbs, to experience less pollution than me - but his levels are far higher.

Stuart tells me: “The app for my tag advises me that of the 27 miles I’ve travelled since Sunday, 60 per cent was a medium level of pollution and the remaining 40 per cent was low.

“I’m not sure what that says for the air quality in Glasgow, and in Bishopbriggs, where I live, but I don’t think I’ll need to wear a mask anytime soon to protect myself against harmful fumes.”

Pollution can change from minute to minute and metre to metre so checking the app becomes a bit addictive.

At £49.99 the tags aren’t cheap but CleanSpace claims greater knowledge of air pollution will help individuals make a big difference - and that seems worth the money to me.