CONSERVATION

Leaf Blower Pollution Control

The DMEA supports AGZA, the American Green Zone Alliance, and is working with NY State elected officials on limiting the usage of gas-powered leaf blowers. Gas-powered leaf blowers have irreversible negative impacts on human health and our environment. Not only do they blow toxins from our soil into the air, but the machine itself produces toxins at an unfathomable rate. Leaf blowers often have no pollution control devices. They are built with a two-cylinder engine that burns fuel very inefficiently.

The DMEA supports local Council Member Dromm’s bills 454 & 456. These bills only go as far as requiring mufflers be put on leaf blowers, however, State Senator Liu’s proposed legislation S1113 will impose a restriction from 5/01-9/30. During these spring/summer months when air pollution is already at its worst, and residents’ windows are often open, it is unnecessary and harmful to use leaf blowers to simply blow soil and debris from your sidewalk to your neighbors, only to have your neighbor’s landscaper blow the debris back to your property. Particulate matter, such as mold, animal feces, and fertilizer, is blown into the air and can take hours or days to settle. When it does, most of it is either ingested by humans or settles in our water system.

The DMEA recommends that homeowners and their landscapers reserve the use of gas-powered leaf blowers for late winter-spring clean-ups and the autumn season when leaves are falling and need to be most efficiently cleaned up in bulk. For all other times of the year, rakes and electric leaf blowers can be used as needed. (Cordless, battery-powered garden tools are now powerful and durable.)

Over the years, many neighboring New York communities have placed restrictions on the use of gas-powered leaf blowers during the spring/summer months. These communities have realized that residents can insist on change. One community at a time is creating a wave of change to a cleaner, quieter environment. Among some of the nearby communities that have established such restrictions are: Bronxville,| Dobbs Ferry,| Great Neck Estates, Greenburgh, Hastings, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, New Rochelle, North Hempstead Town, Oyster Bay, Pelham Manor, Russell Gardens, Rye, Scarsdale, Sleepy Hollow, Tarrytown, Thomastown, Tuckahoe, White Plains, and Yonkers.

The DMEA also recommends that homeowners limit fertilizer use to twice a year; do not use it during the summer months or after September. Also, do not overwater fertilized areas, as too much water will wash fertilizer off lawns and into local waterways. Simple steps will help protect local waterways from excess nitrogen, which fuels algae blooms that smother fish and harm other important wildlife.