Kristin Schneeman is a Representative Town Meeting member, and a sponsor of Westport’s leaf blower ordinance. She writes:
In January 2023 Westport became one of the first towns in Connecticut to limit the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. Since then several towns, including Norwalk and Greenwich, have followed suit.
Starting this year, the use of gas blowers will be banned between May 15 and October 15, with a few exceptions and exemptions.
Anyone wishing to use blowers for light-duty summer activities such as blowing grass clippings, pollen and dust must have an electric blower. Please let your landscapers and neighbors know!
The town has chosen to regulate the use of gas leaf blowers for a number of reasons:
Pollution. Most gas leaf blowers use extremely inefficient “two-stroke” engines that spew large amounts of fine particulate matter and other pollutants into the air.
The California Air Resources Board studied lawn and garden equipment, and found that the best-selling commercial gas leaf blower put out more smog-forming pollution in one hour than a Toyota Camry driving 1,100 miles.
Health of residents and workers. The pollutants leaf blowers emit are known to cause cancer, heart issues, respiratory issues, problems in pregnancy, and even premature death for those with certain conditions.
Landscape workers suffer the most, due to chronic exposure.
Gas leaf blowers can also blast air at 200+ miles an hour, kicking up clouds of dust, mold, pollen, animal feces, and other tiny particles that linger in the air. These can irritate and cause health problems for both humans and pets.
Noise. Gas leaf blowers are so loud that they can cause hearing loss fairly quickly for anyone within a 50-foot radius.
Their noise has a strong low-frequency component that makes it travel especially far and pass through walls and windows easily.
A typical crew operating multiple machines generates enough noise to exceed EPA community standards for 800 feet in all directions, making it difficult to concentrate for people working from home or attending school remotely.
Biodiversity. Leaf blowers destroy the natural layer of leaf litter that protects and nourishes plants and wildlife, including pollinators hibernating there for the winter.
Lawn and garden beauty. Simply leaving short grass clippings on the lawn recycles their nutrients into the soil.
In the fall, leaves can be mulched with a lawn mower or left on garden beds, where they will protect plants through the winter, suppress weeds, and improve soil structure and health.
Instead of leaf blowers, we hope Westport property owners will use and encourage their landscapers to use some combination of battery-powered tools, mulch mowing, rakes, and “leaving the leaves” in garden beds.
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I can’t imagine anyone against this new limitation.
ANYONE, Jack? Are you naive enough to be including the owners of almost every landscape and lawn mowing outfit in
this or any other town? Suggest you talk to any one of them at random.
This is an absurd ordinance aimed squarely at noise pollution. What’s next? Motorcycles? 18 wheelers? If it’s the air pollution the ban should be on 2 stroke engines (which would include the less noisy string trimmers). But it’s the noise… so a time-limit (eg only between 8a-6p, or only 10 minutes per property). Talk about government overreach!
Wonderful.. maybe some peace and quiet. Certainly less pollution in the air. Question? How will this be enforced? Whose going to enforce?
I find it troubling for this to ban homeowners from use as well. Any grandfathering in those that own one already? (I don’t personally but it should allow). The arguments made for the ban are misleading.
1) The more powerful gas powered options are 4 stroke, not 2, and significantly less pollutant by comparison.
2) Noise- Again that is for only certain gas powered options, not all.
3) Biodiversity and mulching arguments are for limiting leaf blowing entirely, not just gas powered so they should be saved for a different discussion.
So ridiculous, for all of us homeowners who still do maintain our lawns i assume the town will reimburse us for the electric version??!. I hope we dont burden our town workers, police to enforce such a another overreach by the government
what a great opportunity for some high quality high tech landscape companies to innovate using alternative means to maintain landscape.
Utopian thought vs. common sense and prioritization. Westport has had a spike in crime over the past two or three years car, theft, break-ins, and many other things keep the police busy and the people safe. Scott had it right who is going to enforce this overbearing regulation I doubt the police have the time to be chasing leaf blowers and the poor hard workers who come into town to support their families. You know the planning and zoning department does not have the bandwidth or ability without code officers. I suggest that the RTM and others not pass these ordinances and regulations, without a clear outline of the enforcement logistics and funding necessary. Meanwhile, if you’re worried about your gas, powered blowers, just leave them in your unlock car at night they’ll beam up.
it’s likely up to citizenship and concern for cleaner quieter air. Cars speed drivers fail to obey traffic laws. The ban is to start the process for a healthier 06880.
CS, as ever, speaks the truth
It sounds like a great idea, but you did read there are a few exceptions. I understand that two of those exceptions are the town of Westport and those caring for golf courses. If there’s an ordinance passed, shouldn’t it be for ALL?
Yes! I live across the street from a golf course and also adjacent to an office building. The assault on my senses usually starting at 7:30 a.m., is painful. Why the golf course needs to eliminate every last twig and leaf in their parking lot is beyond me. Making the change to more environmentally healthful alternatives will be painful for some, in the short term. Long term benefits seem obvious. My electric blower (which is only used for our large parking lot) is perfectly fine. Bring back raking! Great exercise.
I am totally supportive of this regulation. It’s not perfect but bring it on. I am tired of this incredible noise pollution and it occurs FAR too regularly in our neighborhood. It’s maddening. I look forward to a quieter and cleaner neighborhood.
Westporters live in one of the most dangerously polluted corridors in the country. Any volunteers steps to curb air pollutants should be encouraged. Any projects proposed by private citizens or government entities should be denied if they will not promise to improve our situation… keep plugging away, RTM.
A few years ago I bought a battery-operated handheld blower (similar to the one pictured) to replace my perfectly fine gas-powered backpack blower.
I’m still stunned by the blowing force of the electric. I love the maneuverability (I can hold it in either hand and can get into places I could not before, crouch down with it, etc.). I’m no longer fearful of being top-heavy, losing my step, tumbling and rolling with a running gasoline powered device strapped to my back from which I could not egress quickly in case of fire. (I tumbled and rolled once and what could have happened scared me.)
And oh yes, much less noise, no pollution, no messing around with gas cans and refueling, etc.
Another notable exception to the ban on gas-powered leaf blowers is for wheeled blowers. The ban applies only to backpack and handheld blowers, so the use of larger and noisier wheeled blowers is not restricted by the ordinance.
The landscapers employed by several of my neighbors to care for their ~1 acre properties typically use four gas-powered blowers at a time, two of the backpack variety and two wheeled blowers. The blowing has already restarted for the season and roars on for extended periods on most weekdays and on occasional weekend days.
Even if they want to comply with this ordinance, landscapers may stop using the backpack blowers and continue to use the wheeled blowers. They may even add more of the wheeled blowers.
Aside from this loophole and the others noted above, the ordinance is toothless. It has no enforcement mechanism. If complaints are received by the Conservation Department, the Conservation Director is merely supposed to send out educational material about the ordinance to the offending property owner. Don’t hold your breath waiting for the noise to stop.
I’m all for the elimination of noise and air pollution generated by gas-powered blowers. With its limited scope and a reliance on voluntary compliance by residents and landscapers, it is laughable to think that this ordinance will achieve this goal.
John, the “wheeled” blowers are 4 cycle not two cycle & make far less noise than the 2 cycle back packs and far less pollution of the air…
This is a wonderful regulation. All will get used to it quickly and then it is likely to be well appreciated by most in Town. Kristeen Schneeman deserves our thanks for her hard work as well as the many others who steered this through Town government and public and private interests. Thanks also to Valerie Selling Jacobs, and the folks at Quiet Communities.
Don Bergmann
Wow!! Great success! Wish we had this ordinance on Cape Cod!
The drone & din has begun here!
BRAVO ZULU!!! It is about time. For 7 months out of the year, you can step outside and hear those bloody leaf blowers not only polluting the air but also the level of noise. It sounds like a war zone. The ordinance has one flaw: violators are reported to the Conservation Department who have little authority and no penalty. So, like much else in Westport, they have a ton of rules but no enforcement.
May reduce the noise pollution but there are hidden costs and effects on the environment…Lithium production (wich is the battery technology most of these new machines use) is very dirty and harmful to the environment. Here is one article … https://www.mining-technology.com/analyst-comment/lithium-mining-negative-environmental-impact/?cf-view
I call fake news.
Why so?
The question that I have is what is being done to enforce the ordinance? I told my landscaper his workers have to use electric blowers as soon as I saw them carrying on with the gas powered blowers. However, each and every landscaper that I’ve seen in my neighborhood is using gas blowers and when I tell them they are not allowed to do so, they either don’t understand (no English) or look at me like I’m a crazy person.