Governments are increasingly getting noisy leaf blowers out of neighborhoods.
There are now 217 policies or programs in 26 states, plus Washington D.C., that are taking aim at gas-powered leaf blowers, nonprofit U.S. Public Interest Research Group said Wednesday.
The actions range from outright bans on the use of gas-powered leafblowers and bans on their sale to restrictions on their use and financial incentives to transition to electric leaf blowers.
There is little effort to curb gas-powered leaf blowers in the South, but much more activity in the Northeast and in California, a map of the policies shows.
See the places and policies moving away from noisy lawn equipment in 2024
Click on or hover over the color legend to highlight locations, hover over or click on a pin for location, and zoom in the bottom right:
Source: U.S. PIRG, Environment America
So far, there have been gas-powered leaf blower bans passed in 77 locations, such as Fairfax, California and Nantucket, Massachusetts.
And since the start of 2024 in California, all newly manufactured lawn equipment must be zero emission.
But the most popular policies are programs that offer financial incentives, typically from utilities, to switch to less noisy and polluting electric leaf blowers.
The incentive programs are present in 80 locations with many in Colorado.
But not everyone is on board: Texas and Georgia have prohibited municipalities from restricting or discouraging the use of some gas-powered lawn equipment.
On the business side, retailers Lowe’s and Home Depot’s have set goals to sell more electric lawn equipment as part of their environmental goals.
Yes, noisy leaf blowers are illegal in New York City:
Using equipmentYou can’t use equipment that makes unreasonable noise. Quiet hours in New York City are from 10 PM to 7 AM.
Selling gas-powered leaf blowersIt’s illegal to sell, distribute, or offer for sale a gas-powered leaf blower that produces more than 65 decibels (dB(A)) of sound when measured 50 feet away.
Noise levelsA single circulating device can’t produce more than 42 dB(A) of noise when measured three feet away from a nearby residence. Buildings with multiple devices can’t produce more than 45 dB(A) of noise.
Photo credit: Wiki.
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