Leaf blowers are an often overlooked form of pollution. The South Coast AQMD says
one leaf blower can emit as much pollution in a year as 10 cars driving 20,000 miles.
(Creative Commons Licensed)

Commercial gardener Pedro Revuelta has noticed a change in the demands of his customers lately. Instead of complaining about the noise of his equipment, customers are urging him to "go green."

"Once we show them a "go green" sticker on our truck, people are happy we are there because they know we're not polluting and dripping oil everywhere," said Revuelta.

This month, the South Coast Air Quality Management District took a step to help commercial gardeners and landscapers meet their customers' requests. Partnering with the STIHL Company and local dealers, AQMD sponsored leaf blower exchanges throughout Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange counties in the hopes of providing professionals with fuel-efficient, low-polluting machines.

The program encouraged gardeners to exchange the old for the new. Participants brought older models of leaf blowers that were still operational to the events. In exchange, they received a discount on STIHL's BR 500 Backpack Blower. That model functions on less fuel, emits less pollutants into the air, and has a noise-level the equivalent of a normal speaking voice. The company says it blower is four times cleaner than the emissions standard set by the California Air Resources Board.

The average price of this blower is about $470, but participants paid only $200 for the machine. "It's a great promotion. It's a great time to change out the old, get the new, and go green," said participant Pedro Revuelta.

"Southern California still has the worst air quality in the nation despite of years of very dramatic progress," said Sam Atwood, media spokesman for AQMD. "At this point, we need to look at every possible emission reduction that we can achieve. We can no longer ignore sources of pollution that previously may have been considered small or insignificant."

The exchange program has been around four years and has recycled about 6,000 blowers. According to an AQMD press release, the exchange has reduced smog-forming pollutants by 84 tons.

"A typical blower emits in a single year the equivalent emissions of 10 new vehicles each driven 20,000 miles," William A. Burke, Governing Board Chairman of the South Coast AQMD, said in the release.

Leaf blowers pose an especially great health risk because of the location of their use Atwood said. "These are smog forming emissions that are not just coming out of some tall smoke stack, they are right in our neighborhoods and near our offices."

Advocates of changing out old leaf blowers, including Clean Air California, claim older models can lead to health consequences that include heightened allergies or asthma.

"It's very important that we get [the old leaf blowers] off the market. We don't want anyone to ever use them again. So, we scrap them," said Ted Kujawski, the Sales and Marketing Manager for STIHL.

Despite the negative environmental and health consequences of leaf blowers, the majority of complaints about the machine stem from its loud noise. The city of Los Angeles' municipal code even includes a noise regulation that "no gas powered blower shall be used within 500 feet of a residence at anytime."

Revuelta agreed that the majority of complaints about his work were noise related. The low decibel of sound produced by the BR500 was a selling point for him. "It's better now that we have these machines that are quieter. We can get in and get out without disturbing anyone," Revuelta said.

Regardless of the event's draw, organizers said gardeners and landscapers left the Leaf Blower Exchange events with a safer and cleaner blower in hand. "We host this event because of the blower," said Marco, the owner of Marco Power Equipment, which hosted the event in Vernon. "We're trying to push these blowers because they run free of smog. So, we're trying to clean the area."