How to Solve a Leaf Blower Problem

In Massachusetts during 2020, gas-powered lawn and garden equipment generated the same amount of carbon emissions as 135,000 standard cars.

And yet still, we have not solved our gas-powered leaf blower problem.

The Leaf Blower Problem

Our story starts in California during the 1980s. Concerned that hosing down their driveways used too much water, people used a new device. Originally for crop dusting, the device could also be a back-mounted “clean-up machine” that removed leaves and debris from your lawn.

You can see how easy it was to do a clean-up:

For lawn maintenance firms, the gas-powered leaf blower was a time saving money maker. Because it multiplied the number of lawns they could maintain, the leaf blower could elevate incomes and lower prices.

But it did have a downside…several.

As we all know, it is exceedingly noisy. Producing considerable energy in the low frequency range, leaf blower sound travels far from its source. Unlike the high frequency sound that, for example, comes from a dentist’s drill or a mosquito buzz, it has penetrating power. As a result, the disruption travels to many houses. In addition, the gardener can expect hearing damage,

Also, leaf blowers emit a disproportionate amount of pollution. The reason is their two-stroke technology. Far outdated, two stroke, “sloshes together a mixture of gasoline and oil in the combustion chamber and then spews out as much as one-third of that fuel as an unburned aerosol.” However, as a light, easy-to-use, and inexpensive piece of equipment, it is the clean-up tool of choice.

In Beverly Hills, California, our story ends with a leaf blower ban. But there is a happy epilogue.

Our Bottom Line: Regulatory Dilemmas

Whenever a township considers banning gas-powered leaf blowers, they debate several timeless issues.

On one side is the horrific noise that prevents people from working during the day or sleeping in the morning. When we add to that the emissions and dust that blow into the air, we have a rather convincing position for the pro side.

However, as shown by the Beverly Hills, California debate, immigrant lawn care businesses bear the burden of the ban. With fewer lawns and more labor, they earn less, charge more, and lose a less affluent clientele. Many would go out of business. After the Beverly Hills City Council passed a ban, in 1998, landscape workers staged a week-long hunger strike that succeeded in reducing the punishment for using their leaf blowers. The final result though was that the landscapers and the police ignored the law.

Fast forwarding to 2024, again leaf blowers are evoking opposition but we have better solutions. Twenty years ago, electric power was too inconvenient because the batteries needed frequent recharging. More recently, the technology has improved and governments, understanding the plight of the landscapers, have offered subsidies that support the less noisy switch.

As economists, we can say that as the tradeoff of banning gas-powered leaf blowers became less costly, it was less of a regulatory dilemma.

And we wind up with an epilogue that could make everyone happy.

My sources and more: This 99% Invisible podcast reminded me it was time to return to leaf blowers. From there, a 2019 Atlantic article is a possibility as are these updated statistics.