Leaf blowers: noisy and polluting?
Kieran Cooke, Times Online 28 Sep 09;
Q: My husband calls me a “tree hugger” for objecting to his latest garden toy — a leaf blower. Surely these machines are not only noisy but emit fumes that can’t be good for the environment? Or am I being naive and old fashioned?
A: You are having a lunchtime sandwich in your favourite park, enjoying the warm autumn sunshine. Along comes a leaf blower operative. The sound is like a dentist’s drill played through a loud hailer. Its user, fancying himself on the race grid, revs his machine. He is wearing ear-muffs and a protective mask. You are not. The World Health Organisation says that for what it calls “good speech”, background noise levels should be less than 45 decibels (Db). Meanwhile, noise levels should be less than 55Db “to prevent significant community annoyance”. While some manufacturers boast of “low noise technology”, leaf blowers can emit noise of up to 85Db at the machine: at 50ft away the noise level could still be above 55Db.
Local authorities say that they have a duty to clear up leaves: if not there could be accidents, with people slipping about and falling. Before you could say “compost heap”, the lawyers would be knocking on the door. Apparently, many council employees object to raking duties: the argument is that leaf blowers are labour-saving and more efficient. Yet anyone who has hawked one of these machines about for a few hours might question their supposed advantages.
A less obvious side effect is the amount of fumes leaf blowers emit. Most have two-stroke engines running on a combination of petrol and oil, emitting carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and other gases. One US study found that a hand-held blower emits as much CO2 in one hour as a car run for more than a 100 miles. And then there’s the dust, garden and park pesticide residues, animal droppings and fungi spores. Several towns and cities in the US and Canada have either banned the machines or severely limited use.
In the 19th century gardeners at the Imperial Palace in Japan used bellows: around 1970 the first leaf blowers were unveiled, also in Japan. Worldwide sales now run in the millions.
The leaf blower would seem to be part of a strange obsession with making everything tidy, not allowing a stray leaf to blow about in the wind. While you might not want to say: “It’s the leaf blower or me” to your husband, plead with him to put away his noisy machine — and maybe buy him a new rake instead.
