Edinburgh council ditches petrol-driven leaf blowers for electric ones in net zero drive

Council chiefs in Edinburgh are to spend £143,000 to replace petrol-driven leaf blowers with electric ones as part of its drive for net zero.

Leaf blowers are used in the autumn to clear leaves from the city’s streets, parks and green spaces. The city council currently has 69 leaf blowers, of which 54 are petrol-powered and 15 are electric. On average, they are used for around 10 hours a week for two or three months of the year.

Edinburgh council is to replace petrol-driven leaf blowers with electric ones

The council says the electric-powered leaf blowers have cheaper running costs and are also better in health and safety terms for the operators including significant noise reduction. Electric blowers emit no harmful fumes and are lightweight in design therefore less heavy for operators to carry.

And while petrol blowers carry significant risk of Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) and whole body vibration, the vibration of the electric blowers the council currently operates is so minimal that the risk is considered almost negligible.

The switch to electric blowers was prompted by a motion on the issue from Green councillor Alex Staniforth last year and the council’s transport and environment committee is expected to approve the move on Thursday. The new electric leaf blowers are expected to be bought before the end of the current financial year.

Cllr Staniforth’s motion also urged the council to ensure its contractors do not use fossil-fuel leaf blowers and floated the idea of banning or regulating the use of fossil-fuel blowers in Edinburgh

The report says: “A number of contractors working on behalf of the Council also currently utilise fossil fuel leaf blowers. To bring this to an end, all tender specifications will be amended to ensure contractors are only able to use electric leaf blowers.”

But it adds the there is currently no legal basis for the council can ban the use of petrol and diesel-driven blowers more widely..

Transport convener Scott Arthur said ending council use of petrol-powered blowers was a positive move.

He said: “The electric ones are cheaper and safer, less noisy for the workers and the vibration syndrome is much less likely, so overall it’s a good step in the right direction. Hopefully, as well, when people have these things working near their homes or businesses, they’re a bit a quieter.

“And the anticipation is we will save money with this - the devices are slightly more expensive, but they’re much cheaper to operate, so over their lifetime we will save money.”