West Orange Petition Calls For Leaf Blower Ban

WEST ORANGE, NJ — More residents in Essex County are calling for their town to ban leaf blowers – this time, in West Orange.

As of Monday, nearly 200 people have signed an online petition titled “Gas-powered leaf blowers are toxic. It’s time to ban them and create a quiet and clean [West Orange].”

The petition reads:

“Gas-powered leaf blowers are a serious threat to our public health and our environment. The World Health Organization states that noise created by gas-powered blowers range from 102 and 115 decibels, which experts believe is harmful. They also emit significant amounts of ozone-forming chemicals, fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and other air pollutants. A gas leaf blower used for 1 hour is equivalent to the pollutants released by driving a car for 300 hours. Despite being a chronic nuisance and public-health hazard, gas-powered leaf blowers are more common and more powerful. The toxic exhaust, dangerous dust and extreme noise they create are harmful to everyone – especially children, seniors, pets, and those with underlying health issues. AND THEY VIOLATE OUR OWN LOCAL NOISE ORDINANCE, which bans machines that produce ‘extreme noise’ and use an internal combustion engine without a ‘properly functioning muffler.’”

The petition continues:

“This is also a matter of environmental justice. Landscape workers, largely minorities, suffer the worst effects of breathing in toxic pollutants. There are so many reasonable alternatives to lawn care that range from electric blowers to campaigns that use fallen leaves as organic matter in our yards and gardens. Join Our Green West Orange and the growing Quiet Communities movement to ensure a quiet and clean West Orange.”

Other nearby towns such as Montclair and Maplewood have enacted local rules for leaf blowers.

Recently, the Montclair Town Council passed an ordinance that will drastically cut back on the number of days that internal combustion leaf blowers can be used in the township, from 168 to 93.

• See related article: Montclair Changes Its Leaf Blower Law – Again

But the bans haven’t come without pushback. Some people have argued that the laws place an unfair burden on private landscaping companies, who may have to raise their prices to cope with the additional expense of operating in those towns.

In 2017, the New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association (NJLCA) and nine individual landscape companies filed a civil suit against the town of Maplewood, alleging that the law didn't apply equally to all and had impacted them financially.

• See related article: NJ Landscapers Sue Maplewood Over Leaf Blower Ban

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