Governments are increasingly getting noisy leaf blowers out of neighborhoods.
There are now 217 policies or programs in 26 states, plus Washington D.C., that are taking aim at gas-powered leaf blowers, nonprofit U.S. Public Interest Research Group said Wednesday.
The actions range from outright bans on the use of gas-powered leafblowers and bans on their sale to restrictions on their use and financial incentives to transition to electric leaf blowers.
There is little effort to curb gas-powered leaf blowers in the South, but much more activity in the Northeast and in California, a map of the policies shows.
So far, there have been gas-powered leaf blower bans passed in 77 locations, such as Fairfax, California and Nantucket, Massachusetts.
And since the start of 2024 in California, all newly-manufactured lawn equipment must be zero emission.
But the most popular policy are programs that offer financial incentivizes, typically from utilities, to switch to less noisy and polluting electric leaf blowers.
The incentive programs are present in 80 locations with many in Colorado.
But not everyone is onboard: Texas and Georgia have prohibited municipalities from restricting or discouraging the use of some gas-powered lawn equipment.
On the business side, retailers Lowe's and Home Depot's have set goals to sell more electric lawn equipment as part of their environmental goals.