Getting our arms around the nasty issue of leaf-blowers

It seems that I've joined the band of eco-activists in my town in asking our City Council to look into the banning of all gas-powered leaf-blowers, as evidenced by my name at the end of this letter of request [pdf].

Readers here are super-familiar with the air and noise pollution caused by the much-hated leaf-blowers, not to mention gas lawnmowers, which I suppose might be the next target of our cabal.  But sticking with leaf-blowers for the moment, is hating them enough to ban them outright?  Let's see if there are any unintended consequences of such a ban.

Happily, this is a great time to look into this issue because the EPA recently passed some emission standards for the damn things, which standards go into effect in 2011.  Presumably people will experience the economic hardship of having to buy cleaner leaf-blowers by 2011 anyway, so if towns go farther and ban all gas-powered types, people can just switch to electric instead, right?  Uh, we wish.  Everyone's telling me that there ARE no electrically-powered leaf blowers with enough power to do the job, yet.

So it looks like people have to give up power equipment altogether and switch to rakes and blooms, which seems like a good thing.  But according to press reports of anti-blower battles in California, requiring the use of rakes and brooms has at least two downside effects:

• It takes longer to do the work without power equipment, so our small, local landscape companies will suffer - along with their low-income workers - if they're unable to can't pass the extra cost on to their customers.   
• The use of rakes and brooms is more physically stressful and injury-producing than the use of power blowers, which allow the worker to remain upright at all times. 

HOMEOWNERS or COMMERCIAL AND GOV'T WORKERS
Now when it comes to homeowners collecting their own leaves or clearing their sidewalks of debris, so what if it takes a little longer or if they have to take a break or two because raking and sweeping require bending over?  And as for forcing them to buy new equipment, they'd have to upgrade by 2011 anyway, so why not just outlaw gas-powered by that date?

But when it comes landscape companies and the city maintenance crews - people who spend 8-hour days doing this work, after all - that's a different story.  So one compromise that's been suggested - to ban gas-powered leaf-blowers only on weekends - seems like a good one to me, at least until the industry produces electric blowers that can replace the gas machines.  Funny, though - I notice that Westchester County, NY has imposed the burden ONLY on landscape companies and government workers.  That may be because it's easier to enforce the law against those users but it just seems ass-backwards to me. 

But what do you guys think?

HELP!  WHAT HAVE OTHER CITIES DONE?
Now the real reason for this post is that I seem to have volunteered to research what other jurisdictions have done in this arena and I'm thinking that some nonprofit MUST have compiled this information already, right?  So which one?  Seriously; I need some help here.

Photo source: Westchestergov.com.

Comments

[Les]

The noise and pollution are certainly bad enough. However, what gets me is that more often than not all the pollution and noise are created just to blow leaves and debris into the street or on to someone else's property. I never see leaves blown into a pile for clean up. With the wind they likely end up back where they started. It is all wasted effort. Hand me a rake.

[kim]

I hate the noise. Hate it. And it seems like it's constant this time of year. My neighbor blows off his pool cover (pool is under trees) at least every other day this time of year. We use a lawn vac/shredder you push (like a lawnmower) to collect and shred the leaves to compost on our 1/2 acre. And we do that once a season. We rake the rest of the leaves. We DO have an electric leaf blower - Garden Man, who is notoriously "frugal" bought an adapter kit ($4.99) for his Sears shop-vac which converts the motor to a leafblower. It's not nearly as noisy, and Garden Man uses it for light-duty jobs. But I didn't answer your question. I don't know what other cities have done. I can't imagine a ban here in my development, where a good number of residents are original owners in their 70's (or older), and they depend on the mow, blow, go groups AND they are on fixed incomes (and have likely seen their retirement savings evaporate lately). But good luck with your research. I look forward to hearing what you come up with.

[sarahammocks]

Oh give me a break, landscapers. It's not about man hours and worker injury. How many times have you seen a landscape crew inching their way across a lawn, engines roaring on their backs as they herd a handful of leaves to the curb? This is the shock and awe approach to landscape maintenance. Blast the bad stuff with loud gas guzzling artillery--so much more macho than a hand rake!

[Lee]

Have you considered that the ease of using a leaf blower enables people who are not young and/or able bodied complete a job which would otherwise be impossible for them to do?

[Peter Hoh]

I predict that somebody, somewhere is going to respond to a leaf blower ban by cutting down all the trees on his/her property.

[weeder1]

I use an electric leaf blower. Yes, it does make noise but it is easier on my back than raking and it only takes a few minutes to clear a big area and the sidewalk of leaves. It only gets used once or twice a week and yes, the leaves do get composted. I wouldn't own a gas powered one.

[Reading Dirt]

The neighbors hire a lawn care company. The workers use leaf blowers to blow leaves, toys, and assorted tools and such left outside off of their lawn and into the street or into our yard. Neither the workers nor our neighbors seem to care much where the debris goes -- so long as it is off of their lawn. Every weekend (the workers come on Friday), I go out and chuck all the toys and tools back into their yard.

Would it be any different if the workers had to use rakes? Maybe -- if raking leaves also includes bagging them and hauling them away. Or maybe not. I see plenty of people rake leaves into the street, where they clog gutters and drains, under the impression that "someone" will come along and make the leaves go away.

[Pam J.]

In answer to the question posed by Lee ("Have you considered that the ease of using a leaf blower enables people who are not young and/or able bodied complete a job which would otherwise be impossible for them to do?"). I think this is a handy rationalization. If someone has the strength to buy and transport the gas needed for the blower, carry the blower on his or her back, and wander around the yard, that person also has the ability to use a 3-lb rake.

[eliz]

I have an electric leaf vacuum/shredder and I like it. it's great for getting them out of ground cover. But I must say, it's harder to carry and handle than a rake, though it works faster and shreds them, which is the cool thing. Noisy though.

[tibs]

The only place I like to use my electric leaf blower/succer-upper is for the ground cover. It is either that or hand pick the leaves out. Which I can do now, but the older I get the more my back protests. Very labor intensive, not something that I could ever afford to hire done, if I could even find someone to do it. Now my lawn can be raked with ease. So my question is how do you reconcile the ban the lawn plant ground cover and ban the blower ideals?

I am not pro lawn, pro gas powered tools, I just really would like some ideas. And if today the mowers, tomorrow the hedge trimmers, and with over 300' of privet hedge (some came with the house, some self imposed) as a perimeter fence, I can't live without it.

[Aunt Ida]

THE place to go for noise information is www.nonoise.org. I sent a longer email with links to specific noise ordinances, but the system flagged it as spam.

[Christopher C NC]

When you are charging $35 to $50 per man hour, time is indeed a concern for landscape professionals and consumers. Never having used a blower for a rake; mulching mowers solve most of that issue and a rake gets the remnants, I can still tell you they save time. They are used to clean the bits of grass, dust, dirt and tiny debris left on walkways, drives, pool decks, patios and other hard surfaces. Clients want clean, kitchen floor clean, when the landscaper is done.

What are the other options in this situation? A broom or a hose. Can't waste water for that and sorry, babushka wearing peasants to sweep your hard surfaces live only in old novels.

Sorry Susan, I can't help with info on what other towns are doing. The compromise to me is the EPA's new small engine standards.

Face it, most Americans are too lazy and too pressed for time to rake all the leaves quietly for the disturbed.

[Pam J.]

"Clients want clean, kitchen floor clean, when the landscaper is done." This is part of the problem.

[Paul]

Umm, I really like my leaf blower. In fact, I can't imagine moss gardening without one. Its not lazy, just efficient and much less damaging than raking moss. Please don't take it away....

[Rosella]

My husband is 80 and I am 71. I can assure Pam J that we do not use a 3 lb. backpack blower, but we do rely very heavily on a rake, an electric blower, and a little blower/vacuum/ shredder, because although we are both pretty hale and hearty we don't have the stamina needed to clear our 1/3rd of an acre by hand --heavily-treed, flower-bedded, ground-covered, etc., and we can't afford to pay a landscape company to do it.

Yes -- I hate the noise of the gas-powered equipment, and I specially hate the stink they leave behind. I sometimes run and shut the windows in the house when I see them arrive so that the house won't smell of exhaust for the rest of the day.

[greg draissgreg draiss]

If you people get your way and lawns are outlawed there will be no more lawn mowers......less noise

You have already moved on to your next battle front..........leaf blowers.......

But trees will be outlawed because new trees need to be watered.......and we don't like people using water.....less noise

So there you have it..leaf blowers oulawed by outlawing lawns first........

Am I still irrational or is incrementalism beinginning to make sense?

The (never a pacifist) TROLL

[EACH LITTLE WORLD]

My neighbor who uses a blower mulches all the leaves he picks up while my neighbor who rakes puts his leaves in the gutter which is illegal in my town (they have to stay on the grass etc. til they get picked up by the city).

My husband and I use the blower on moss and gravel gardens where we also do a lot of hand work but it is a very helpful tool. Also use it on the roof valleys where leaves collect and mess up the gutter ...

[Old Kim]

Blowing leaves under the trees for compost is a better way than raking up piles and burning them like folks use to do.

[inadvertentfarmer]

Wow, interesting discussion. What about the noise and emissions from lawn mowers? Rototillers? Tractors? I am concerned about where we stop. I think having all small engines have to have emissions standards is a great idea. Eventually the old ones will die and we will have nothing left but the newer 'greener' ones. Telling people that they cannot use the equipment that they purchased on the lawn and gardens they own now seems like government way overstepping its proper role. How fair is it to tell someone that something he bought which was perfectly legal is now against the law to use?

[Carolyn]

Financial crisis...more time...raking is a terrific way to enjoy the outdoors...done correctly it won't hurt...a rake is cheaper than a blower...no pollution...be an educator

We have too many laws...send the politicians home for 3 weeks every month...be an educator

[inadvertentfarmer]

Lead by example? Hmmm what a concept, lol! Love it!

[RenateKa]

I'm surprised noone mentions that the plants really suffer from the industrial strength blows. It dries them out, and those gusts of wind, once a week, are not what every plant likes.

And I agree with Pam. We should just get over it that a garden floor should look like the kitchen floor. What I find amazing is that 30 years ago, people somehow managed without leaf blowers. Hard to believe but true.

[greg draiss]

and we managed without email, blogs, atms, ezpass, daycare,digital cameras, microwaves, etc

Does anyone rally wanna go back to the goold old daze!

[Lisa Albert]

"Clients want clean, kitchen floor clean, when the landscaper is done."

Christopher in NC, it seems you hit a chord with several of us. I watch as my neighbors' mow & blows machine-sweep every last blade of cut grass off the sidewalk. And then they spread fertilizer that sprays over that sidewalk. And they leave it. What's wrong with this picture?

I'm glad to see new emission controls enforced (about time), but that's only half the battle. The vision of the American garden also needs to undergo a revision. Changing our perspective will change our habits, and hopefully reduce reliance on these power tools. Personally, I don't think gardens should look groomed and pruned to an inch of their lives, not even for photographs in magazines and books. I prefer a "lived-in" look over one that looks like it will be covered in plastic, like a 50's sofa.

[Pam J.]

daycare?? What planet do you live on? We've had daycare for as long as women have worked outside the cave or the tent, and that's a long, long time.