By Donald Gilpin

Last Friday, December 16, was the first day of the winter ban on the use of gas-powered leaf blowers, which will remain in effect through March 14, 2023, when it will be lifted for a two-month period before it returns from May 16 to September 30.

During the ban “residents and landscapers shall use only electric or battery-powered leaf blowers for leaf and debris-blowing needs. Property owners and their landscape contractors are co-responsible to reduce the amount of noise and air pollution and to achieve more sustainable landscaping practices in our community,” according to the ordinance adopted unanimously by Princeton Council in October 2021 after nearly a year of deliberations.

The community compliance officer has reported that 30 landscapers and 74 homeowners have received notice of violations since June. Most expressed willingness to comply without resistance. Some stated that they were not aware of the new ordinance. Landscape contractors were frustrated by the ban, the compliance officer said, but they are doing their best to comply.

“No fines have been imposed this year,” she said, though, in accordance with the ordinance, a number of warnings have been issued. “This year we considered a learning year. There were challenges this year with supply chains, increased demand, and equipment malfunction, which meant landscape contractors who were working to comply either couldn’t get the equipment or their new equipment was in service for only a very short time.”

She continued, “For landscapers it’s a matter of changing their mindsets. It’s not simple, not a one-to-one change from gas to electric. It’s not just a matter of changing leaf blowers. It’s changing a mindset.”

Mowers, gas-powered as well as battery-powered, can be used year-round, but the ordinance encourages landscapers to replace gas-powered with battery-powered equipment. Through its Landscape Equipment Transition Fund, Sustainable Princeton has awarded up to $1,000 in financial assistance, more than $15,000 in total, to a number of qualified small landscaping companies for purchasing new equipment.

Also part of the ordinance is the requirement that landscaping companies register with the municipality and provide worker’s compensation and proof of insurance for their employees.

Councilmember Eve Niedergang, who along with Sustainable Princeton, Quiet Princeton, the Princeton Environmental Council, and the Princeton Board of Health has been leading the effort to create and implement a viable sustainable landscape ordinance, has received mostly positive feedback so far. “For the most part, people have really  appreciated the quiet. I think it’s made a difference in people’s lives,” she said.

She noted that her concerns and the concerns of other ecology-minded residents go beyond just the noise.  “Data on greenhouse gas emissions and pollution are quite astonishing,” she said. California is set to ban the sale and manufacture of gas-powered lawn equipment, and there’s a similar ban currently under consideration in the New Jersey legislature.”

“The leaf blower ban is the tip of the iceberg,” continued Niedergang. “We see this as being part of an overall sustainable landscape initiative. The leaf blower restrictions are really just one step in trying to get people to care for their property in a more sustainable way. We’re trying to change hearts and minds and educate people to a different standard.”

Niedergang described the toxic effects of fertilizers and pesticides and the downside of removing leaves from the lawn. “The idea is for people to see their yard as its own little ecosystem and to do what they can to maintain a habitat for pollinators and other insects and animals, and not do things like coming out in the spring and using a gas leaf blower to remove all the leaves. You’re also destroying animal habitats. People don’t realize that.”

The Princeton Environmental Council, in concert with Sustainable Princeton, is planning to conduct sustainable habitat tours next spring, Niedergang said, with several sustainable yards on display and their owners available to talk.  She noted that her neighbors across the street have turned their entire front yard into a wildflower sustainable yard.

“It can be an expensive and time-consuming transition, but there are smaller steps people can take,” she added, and she noted that for landscapers, “for people who are able to acquire the knowledge and get into it I think there’s a real demand for sustainable landscaping.” Further information is available at
sustainableprinceton.org.

Niedergang said that she would eventually like to see the use of gas-powered leaf blowers eliminated completely, but that is not a goal for 2023. In the coming year she anticipates working with landscapers, especially those who are frustrated with the ordinance and concerned about losing business, to adapt gradually. 

“The sheer toxicity of this equipment is kind of unique,” she said. “It’s uniquely polluting and it’s really terrible for the people who are using the equipment. For all those reasons I would like to continue to push on this, but you don’t want to hit people with too much at once.”

She concluded, “For financial reasons, for ecological reasons, and for safety reasons, we have to start moving in those directions.”

The community compliance officer added, “More than I thought, people are happy not to hear the leaf blowers. The challenge is how do we do the job without them.”