Cornell Cooperative Extension of Monroe County (CCE-Monroe) has received funding through the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute to offer a series of workshops promoting the advantages of using battery-powered landscape tools in place of traditional gas-powered equipment.
The goal of the project is to have a positive impact on the purchasing decisions made by property managers, landscape companies, and the general public in regard to landscape equipment. Through educational workshops and literature distribution CCE-Monroe will share information and personal testimonies to encourage purchasers to replace old landscape tools with battery-powered ones. The long-range impact from the success of these efforts will be cleaner air and less noise for the people using the equipment and the people who live or work in areas where landscape maintenance is being done.
Gas-powered tools emit carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter, polluting the air and endangering the individuals who operate the equipment. In addition, the noise pollution from gas-powered tools exceeds the limits issued by OSHA by a substantial increase.
CCE-Monroe will provide six workshops between April and November 2022 to share information with individuals who make purchasing decisions for their landscape/property maintenance business. They will also create flyers with similar information that can be distributed to the general public through City of Rochester Recreation Centers, Monroe County Parks, and local garden centers. CCE-Monroe will create a video highlighting Cornell University Grounds Department, which has been transitioning to battery-powered equipment over the past several years. The video will be featured at the six workshops, along with other research that supports the environmental-friendly nature of battery-powered tools and their ability to perform as well as gas-powered equipment. Local suppliers of battery-powered tools will be invited to each workshop to share with attendees the tool lines that they sell and any sales-incentives they might have to offer.
For information on the upcoming workshops, contact Marci Muller at 753-2557 or mem545@cornell.edu.
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