City Council Contractors

Aug 3, 2009

Auckland City Council contractors started to not use leaf blowers excessively on our street about two months ago for leaf clearing. They seemed to respond to a suggestion that a small team of people with rakes would be far faster. Now a city council gardener this morning maintaining the grounds around the High Court was using a leaf blower to clear up the mess he was making digging into soil, pointing the thing at gutters. I got a few seconds you can see in this video clip. I rang them at 9am to say that it was making me ill. They promised to phone back, they did not. There are no Environmental health guidelines and everyone is budget cutting, so there is not likely to be any action unless those affected speak up.

If you also object to Leaf Blowers endangering your health in this way, feel free to complain about specific incidents on the Auckland City Council website.

Leaf Blowers

Leaf blowers are noisey machines that are used instead of a rake to collect leaves from tree lined streets. The fact that they are noisey is bad. The fact that they are pointed at the ground, at gutters and soil means that whatever particles are there become part of the air that is breathed by people downwind.

Health concerns include the use of leaf blowers in school grounds and the Auckland university grounds. There is no objection to leaf clearance, but a better tool needs to be used that does not cause such a level of air and noise pollution.

A single gas-powered leaf blower ... can emit as much pollution in a year as 80 cars.... Leaf blowers spew the mold, allergens, and dust particles that Mother Nature tamps down with rain and decomposition into the air at high velocities, exacerbating health problems like asthma and lung irritation. USA News article link.

"Street dust includes lead, organic carbon, and elemental carbon according to a study conducted for the ARB. The Lung Association states "the lead levels are of concern due to [their] great acute toxicity... Elemental carbon...usually contains several adsorbed carcinogens." Another study found arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel, and mercury in street dust as well (6). The ARB states that a leaf blower creates 2.6 pounds of PM10 dust emissions per hour of use (7), and based on this a report from the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District states that leaf blower dust is responsible for two percent of our PM (8). Blowers are widely used in residential areas where many people are exposed." - from No-noise.org

Many cities it the USA have banned the leaf blowers in summer months as "the negative health impact of leaf blowers is reason enough to limit their use, especially during the months when more people are outdoors... Supporters of the bans have letters from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit that say gas-powered leaf blowers pose multiple health threats. They include spreading airborne particles, which can provoke asthma and other respiratory diseases, and potential pollutants like ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons. Hearing damage from the engine noise, and eye injuries from pebbles and twigs propelled by blowers are also cited. NY Times article

April 2009

Concrete Dust

Concrete Dust highlights how the unrestricted use of Leaf Blowers resulted in a gardener showering the local Law School with dust from a building repair job - the old building is being drilled into causing much concrete and gardeners were also onsite at the same time. The concrete dust hung in the air for about 48 hours.

This video was shot on April 2nd and 3rd 2009 in Eden Crescent, Auckland. The building is Westminster Court, built in the 1930s of concrete construction. Numerous internal leaks have resulted in parts of the concrete structure being infected by mould. Having mould spores spread in this way with the dust carries additional health and safety risks. When asked about this, the Building Manager said - it is just the gardener with his "blo-vac". The failure of restrictions on the use of leaf blower thus causes potential for a public health disaster.

Leaf blowers are dangerous

Leaf-blowers are a menace to the health of people in cities and they should be banned. Failure to take action is killing people in years to come, maybe you will fall victim to this pervasive and destructive menace. Just search the internet for "concrete dust danger". This video was made in California, the problem with leaf blowers is that they are pervasive and people just accept that they should be used by gardeners. But why? It creates a serious health problem and can easily be replaced by more traditional methods (brooms, shovels, or mechanical devices that do not pollute).