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by ojagodzinski 973 days ago
in my city (in Poland) there is a ban on the use of combustion and electric leaf blowers. The aim of the restrictions is to eliminate secondary dust (PM 2.5, PM10) emissions from streets.

https://www.poznan.pl/mim/info/news/zakaz-uzywania-dmuchaw-d...

3 comments

In Los Angeles, they imposed fines and even jail time for their use near residences in the late 90s. Gardeners responded by staging a hunger strike that lasted 7 days in front of city hall, and the city walked it back and has not bothered enforcing the ordinance since.
Before Lithium ion batteries, a ban on ICE blowers probably meant having to rake which is way more manpower.
Interesting my city, Encinitas in the US, banned it to reduce green house gas emissions.

https://www.encinitasca.gov/government/departments/developme...

so back to sweeping I guess?
I recently bought a Kärcher push sweeper and it's life changing. Completely silent and cleanup same sized patio space in fraction of the time. Yet when I recommend it others the response is usually "na I need my blower" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
To be fair, that sweeper isn't an exact replacement for a blower. It works on hard surfaces, but a blower works everywhere.
When I was a kid, the city would send trucks around in the fall to vacuum up piles of leaves left at the curb.

I think it would be cool to vacuum things up.

Naw, we'll go to using the water hose and a sprayer!

It's not as uncommon as you might think/hope.