Sustainability - Leaf Blowers

Leaf blowers have become more popular and affordable over the last few decades. Many of us have memories of spending an afternoon raking leaves, and hopefully we are still creating those memories. The issue for many though is that raking leaves can be a physically intensive activity depending on the size of your yard. Leaf blowers were developed to alleviate this issue, and, therefore, many of us either own one or hire a landscaping contractor who uses them. Though leaf blowers save much time and effort, they are extremely harmful to the environment (particularly gas-powered blowers) in multiple ways:

1. Air Pollution: Gas-powered leaf blowers use an engine referred to as a two-stroke engine. California’s State Air Resources Board found in 2017 that 1 hour of use of the most popular gas-powered leaf blower released as much emissions as would driving a new Toyota Camry 1,100 miles (source). They also estimated that total emissions from gas-powered equipment would soon outpace emissions from all cars within the state. This is not only due to increasing popularity, but also because small off-road engines have fewer regulations than automotive engines.

2. Destroys Insect & Worm Winter Homes: Brown leaves may appear dead, but they are full of life and provide an indispensable winter habitat in which pollinators, caterpillars, fireflies, worms, ants, beetles, snails, and a host of other organisms live and lay their eggs. The high winds that emanate from a leaf blower (up to 200 mph) decimate this habitat, including both leaves and topsoil. Preserving ground cover will protect a myriad of organisms, will likely increase the biodiversity of your yard the following spring, and will not counteract other efforts you have implemented to increase biodiversity such as planting native plants and preserving caterpillar and bird populations.

3. Noise Pollution: Leaf blowers can produce low-frequency sounds of 100 decibels or more; the low frequency makes the sound especially penetrating. For this reason, Washington, DC, phased out the sale and use of gas-powered leaf blowers with the passing of the Leaf Blower Regulation Amendment Act of 2018, which took effect on January 1, 2022.

4. Tree Health: Leaves provide a natural protective cover for tree roots and release valuable nutrients into the soil. Maintaining a layer of leaves will alleviate the need to purchase mulch, increase the health of your trees, and reduce the costs of hiring someone to remove your leaves.

For more information on the negative impacts of leaf blower, including a detailed comparison between gas and electric leaf blowers, refer to this article provided by the Montgomery County (MD) Department of Environmental Protection.

---

Objective:

Try to avoid or at least reduce the use of leaf blowers throughout the fall season. If you need to remove leaves from your yard, consider investing in an electric leaf blower or doing it the old-fashioned way. Also, instead of disposing of the leaves, consider adding them to your compost pile or using them as natural mulch around your trees and other plants.  They can also be very effective at preparing portions of your lawn for future vegetable and native gardens.