RARA has endorsed an initiative at City Hall to ban or limit the use of two-stroke, gas-powered leaf blowers used by garden maintenance services.
Co-presidents Pym Buitenhuis and Murray Campbell wrote to the city’s Infrastructure and Environment Committee to encourage it to support a motion by Councillors James Pasternak and Shelley Carroll to explore the feasibility of a ban.
“This is a serious health and environmental issue that is causing concern in many Toronto neighbourhoods,” the RARA letter said. “Residents in our neighbourhood complain of the disruptive noise and air pollution generated by this lawn-care equipment. We also know that use of the equipment contributes to hearing and respiratory health problems for the workers.”
The motion was brought before City Council last July and is now in the hands of the city manager and the Medical Officer of Health, who were requested to report back in the first quarter on the feasibility of a summer-only ban or a year-round ban on the blowers. Their report has been delayed by the competing priority of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.
In their motion, Pasternak and Carroll criticized not just the noise of the leaf blowers used by private maintenance firms but also their hydrocarbon pollution, which is about 500 times that of an average vehicle. As well, the councillors noted, the blowers are contributing to “dramatic loss” of insect populations.
The motion has been supported by many other residents’ associations in Toronto. About 100 cities across North America have banned or limited the use of these gas-powered machines.