Gas-Powered Leaf-blowers
The Medina City Council is considering actions to reduce air emissions and noise pollution by banning gas-powered leaf blowers through a phased approach. City staff will be hosting an open house in early spring to hear from the community and businesses that provide landscaping services in Medina. To stay informed, click the green "Register" button to the right of this page.
Why Cities are considering a ban.
CLIMATE CHANGE - “As people learn about the smog emissions and the climate change, creating pollutants that a lot of this equipment creates, they realize that this is really some pretty low-hanging fruit for us to be able to address the impacts of climate change…”
ENVIRONMENT - “Blowers blast air up to 280 miles per hour, eroding topsoil and sending pollen, fertilizers, and herbicides adrift.”
HEALTH – “Gas-powered lawn care of all kinds spews pollutants linked to cancers, heart disease, and asthma, and workers who spend hours a day with equipment are most at risk.”
NOISE – “Blowers can be more than a nuisance. Some produce more than 100 decibels of low-frequency, wall-penetrating sound—or as much noise as a plane taking off”
NOISE – “Can cause permanent hearing damage or other hearing issues such as tinnitus after just 2 hours of hearing a blower’s 65 to 80 decibels at 50 feet away. In densely settled communities, most people are usually much closer to leaf blowers than 50 feet.”
POLLUTION - “Gas-powered leaf blowers (GLBs) are amazingly polluting—much more polluting than most late-model cars. They burn a mixture of gasoline and oil. Because their two-stroke engines are so inefficient, more than 30 percent of that mixture is released unburnt as aerosol. These emissions contain an array of toxic pollutants, known carcinogens, and smog-forming chemicals.
Banning only gas-powered?
Mostly gas-powered but not entirely. Only California (19 cities) and Colorado (3 cities) have a complete ban on gas-powered blowers.
California is the only state in the country whereby 6 of its 84 cities have a complete ban on both gas and electric blowers:
Del Mar, CA
Hermosa Beach, CA
LaCanada, CA
Laguna Beach, CA
Manhattan Beach, CA
Santa Monica, CA
Ban only at certain times of the year?
Of some 19,522 incorporated places in the 50 states, only 15 states have cities that are currently regulating leaf blowers. Most of those cities have either noise/time of day or seasonal restrictions of leaf blowers.
State | # of Cities w/Seasonal Gas Blower Ban (In most cases gas blowers are only allowed in the Fall) | # of Cities w/ Noise and/or Time of Day Restrictions (Users may be restricted to use low noise gas units that are <70 dB or <65 dB. Others may be restricted to certain hours of the day—in some cases, restricted to use their blower one day per week.) |
California | 0 | 59 |
Colorado | 0 | 0 |
Connecticut | 0 | 2 |
Florida | 0 | 1 |
Illinois | 7 | 0 |
Maryland | 0 | 1 |
Massachusetts | 1 | 2 |
Michigan | 0 | 6 |
New Hampshire | 0 | 1 |
New Jersey | 1 | 1 |
New York | 13 | 7 |
North Carolina | 0 | 1 |
Oregon | 0 | 1 |
Texas | 0 | 1 |
Washington | 0 | 1 |
TOTALS | 22 | 84 |
Other educational pieces
- Are Leaf Blowers Bad for Your Health? (Things To Know)
January 20, 2023 - Why Cities are Taking Action to Limit Loud and Polluting Lawn Care
Spring 2021
