Toronto looking to ban gas-powered leaf blowers to reduce noise and air pollution

A debate about whether or not to ban gas-powered leaf blowers has been quietly raging in Toronto for almost two decades, and now the city seems finally poised to take action.

Chris Keating, chair of the noise and pollution committee for the Deer Park Residents Group, is in favour of a ban, and not just because the machines are noisy.

The 85-year-old gave a deputation at the city's Infrastructure and Environment Committee meeting on Tuesday, referring to a 2021 Toronto Public Health report that described both noise and air pollution from the use of two-stroke engines, like those used in leaf blowers, as a "nuisance." 

"Calling pollution from leaf blowers a nuisance is like calling smog an inconvenience," Keating told the committee. 

The idea of banning equipment with two-stroke engines was first discussed by the city back in 2005, said Coun. Shelley Carroll at the committee meeting. Since then, battery-powered alternatives have become affordable and effective enough to warrant the ban, she said. 

The proposed ban is meant to help combat noise pollution and to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. The motion will be presented to city council on July 19.

Leaf blower noise 'totally egregious,' says city councillor 

Dianne Saxe, the city councillor who brought this most recent item forward, told CBC Toronto that both noise and air pollution are detrimental to the health of city residents. 

"Noise has a real toll on people's health," she said. "We have to tolerate a certain amount of noise in a city with other people but leaf blowers are a totally egregious extra assault."

At Tuesday's meeting, lawyer and Toronto resident April Engleberg made a deputation outlining how gas-powered leaf blowers were "the bane of [her] existence" while suffering from a long-term concussion.

"When there would be one of these … outside my window, I would literally be in my bathroom, in the dark, wearing earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones," she told the committee, adding that many other people experience noise sensitivity issues. 

Studies details harms of two-stroke engine emissions

When it comes to air pollution, Saxe said the long-term health effects may be even worse. 

"Air pollution is cumulative," she said. "And it is very well established that we should be taking a precautionary approach to human health."

A lot of attention has been given to traffic emissions and wildfire smoke, but smaller sources like two-stroke engines are just as dangerous, Saxe said. 

In fact, studies by the California Air Resources Board and Environmental Protection Agency in the United States have found two-stroke engine emissions are significantly more harmful pound-for-pound than emissions from vehicle traffic.

Speaking to CBC Toronto, Keating said it's important to address these issues now so that the responsibility doesn't fall on the shoulders of younger people like his 10-year-old granddaughter. 

"They're the ones who don't know why the adults are not standing up and doing something about this," he said. "We have a duty and an obligation to stop poisoning the atmosphere in Toronto."

Ban would hurt small businesses, says landscaper 

But Sufian Ali, owner and operator of S.A. Landscape Associates, worries about how the ban would affect his small business. 

"Leaf blowers are vital to our fall business," he told CBC Toronto. "The same job that we're getting done with rakes in two hours or three hours, we are now getting done in half an hour. It gives us a better clean and that in turn costs less for the client."

Ali is slowly transitioning some of his equipment over to battery-powered machines, but said it's too expensive for a small company like his to replace everything at once. 

He also feels that battery-powered equipment isn't where he needs it to be yet. 

"The batteries last an hour or two, right?" Ali said. "And there's a cost for us of getting the batteries, of keeping the batteries charged [and we would] have to re-outfit our trucks with maybe either solar panels or some kind of generator to charge it."

Growing demand for eco-friendly landscaping

Jose Torcal, on the other hand, told CBC Toronto, that this is likely where the landscaping sector is heading regardless. 

Torcal manages RainscapeTO, a social enterprise that offers sustainable landscaping services. RainscapeTO already uses battery-powered lawnmowers and uses rakes to clean up clippings and leaves.

"There's more and more attention to climate change," he said. "People realize that a garden is an actionable item for you in order to take action for climate change."

Demand for more eco-friendly landscaping has increased exponentially in the six years since RainscapeTO opened shop, Torcal said. 

"Back then it was a bit of a niche," he said. But now, customers come in asking to replace grass lawns "because they know it's a monoculture." 

For Torcal, that sustainable mindset extends to all of the equipment that RainscapeTO uses, and as such, he thinks a ban on gas-powered equipment is a good idea.  

As for Saxe, she's confident the ban will receive support from city council and Toronto's new mayor Olivia Chow when it's brought forward next month.