Transitioning Towards Zero Emissions Outdoor Power Equipment

Rethink Your Lawn

In Toronto, conventional turfgrass lawns are common, but they require frequent watering (accounting for about one-third of all residential water use) and demand time-intensive maintenance that often depends on outdoor power equipment. You can eliminate the use of these tools just by rethinking your lawn.

Torontonians can rethink their lawns by introducing native plants and other habitat-supporting alternatives that reduce environmental impact, promote biodiversity, and save time and money. Lawn conversion doesn’t have to mean turning your entire yard into a garden; options include incorporating low-growing, trample-resistant groundcovers that provide ecological benefits while maintaining the function of a conventional lawn.

The Environmental Impact of Conventional Lawns

• Water and fertilizer use: Maintaining turfgrass requires watering and fertilizer use, leading to water wastage and runoff that pollutes Toronto’s waterways and harms aquatic life.
• Biodiversity loss: Turfgrass lawns do not provide food or shelter for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife. Additionally, frequent mowing, trimming and leaf blowing disrupts insect populations.
• Noise and air pollution: Gas-powered mowers and leaf blowers emit harmful pollutants and are a source of urban noise pollution, affecting both human health and wildlife.

Benefits of Sustainable Lawn Alternatives

• Less maintenance: Reducing mowing frequency and eliminating the need for leaf blowing saves time and helps protect insects, birds, and other wildlife.
• Lower costs: Using less water, fertilizer, and pesticides reduces maintenance expenses—and can lower your water bills over time.
• Healthier urban ecosystems: Native plants and other lawn alternatives provide critical habitat for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife, supporting greater biodiversity. Converting just a small strip of turfgrass lawn into a native plant garden will protect declining wild bees and butterfly populations. For more information on the importance of pollinators, see How to Help Wild Bees and Other Native Pollinators.
• Cleaner air: Transitioning away from gas-powered landscaping equipment cuts harmful emissions, including greenhouse gases and air pollutants such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
• Better stormwater management: Deep-rooted native plants and groundcovers improve soil health and help absorb rainwater, reducing runoff, filtering water naturally before it reaches our waterways, and easing pressure on stormwater infrastructure.
• Quieter neighbourhoods: Replacing turfgrass with native ground covers, meadows, or low-maintenance gardens minimizes the use of noisy, gas-powered equipment, creating a more peaceful environment for everyone.

By transforming lawns into thriving ecosystems, we can create healthier, quieter, and more sustainable urban spaces that benefit both people and wildlife.

Sustainable Lawn Options

The following is a list of sustainable lawn options well-suited to Toronto’s climate.

• Pollinator Gardens
  Incorporating native perennials and shrubs into your landscape supports local wildlife, including pollinators and birds, while reducing the need for watering and chemical treatments. Native plants are adapted to the local climate and soil, making them resilient and low maintenance.
• Rain Gardens
  Designed to absorb and filter stormwater, rain gardens use deep-rooted native plants to prevent runoff, reduce flooding, and improve water quality. They are an effective way to manage heavy rains in Toronto while creating habitat for pollinators and birds.
• Groundcover Plants
  Low-growing groundcovers like wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) and wild ginger (Asarum canadense) create dense mats that suppress weeds, require little mowing, and offer visual interest. Wild ginger, for example, is effective in shaded areas and wild strawberry thrives in full sun, produces very little fruit and is extremely trample-resistant.
• Ornamental Native Grasses
  Native low-growing perennial grasses such as Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica) add aesthetic appeal with minimal upkeep. They are drought-tolerant and thrive in various soil types, making them suitable for Toronto’s diverse conditions.
• Meadow Lawns
  Transforming part of a yard into a native meadow with wildflowers and grasses increases biodiversity, supports pollinators, and reduces maintenance. This approach creates a vibrant, ever-changing landscape that reflects the natural beauty of Toronto’s native plant species.
• Clover Lawns
  White clover (Trifolium repens) is a hardy ground cover that enriches soil by fixing nitrogen, reducing the need for fertilizers. It requires less water than traditional grass and provides nectar for pollinators. However, white clover is non-native, less tolerant of heavy foot traffic and may require reseeding every few years.
• Tapestry Lawns
  Combining a variety of low-growing plants, such as mosses, sedums, and herbs, tapestry lawns create a colorful, textured groundcover that supports biodiversity and requires less maintenance than traditional lawns. They are particularly effective in areas with moderate foot traffic.
• Xeriscaping
  This landscaping method uses drought-resistant plants to create visually appealing gardens that require minimal watering. By selecting plants suited to dry conditions, xeriscaping conserves water and is ideal for dry areas where watering is difficult.

Impacts of Leaf Blowers on Ecological Health

Impacts of Leaf Blowers

Leaf blowers and vacuums do more than just clear debris—they disrupt ecosystems. They strip away leaves, mulch and organic matter, remove essential nutrients from the soil, exposing plants to disease and potentially increasing reliance on chemical fertilizers and fungicides. The powerful gusts also displace beneficial insects and small creatures crucial to maintaining biodiversity¹. Birds, for example, rely on insects in leaf litter to feed their young, and when that food source is removed, it can have ripple effects across the entire food chain².

To view source for reference 1, see: Evidence of the Impact of Noise Pollution on Biodiversity: A Systematic Map
To view the source for reference 2, see Urbanisation Drivers and Underlying Mechanisms of Terrestrial Insect Diversity Loss in Cities.

Leave the Leaves

You may have seen “leave the leaves” campaigns before, encouraging you to ditch the fall and spring garden clean-up.  

Fall Leaves

Leaving the leaves in the fall turns your garden into winter habitat for pollinating insects, who do not emerge until about mid-May, when temperatures are above 10 degrees Celsius. Native pollinator species in Toronto need plant litter such as fallen leaves, dead hollow stems and logs to nest and survive the cold. Leaf litter is where many species of butterflies and moths overwinter as pupae or adults. Queen bumblebees overwinter by digging a small hole in the ground beneath leaf litter. Removing leaves removes important wintering habitats for native wildlife.

Spring Leaves

Cleaning up your garden too early in the spring will harm nesting pollinators. It is best to not partake in any garden clean-up for as long as possible in the spring. The earliest to start tidying up is once the weather has been consistently above 10 degrees Celsius (overnight too) for at least a week. This is because in early spring, insects are still hibernating. The insects will not be moving and need to be left alone until it is warm enough to emerge on their own.

What You Can Do To Help

Compost your leaves whenever possible; they are great sources of nutrients for lawns and gardens. Leaves protect and feed the soil naturally. Here are two ways to use leaves to feed your yard:

• Use your lawn mower to mulch leaves on the lawn; this will improve your lawn health by suppressing weeds and fertilizing the soil.
• Rake leaves directly into your garden beds; they will protect your plants and soil over winter, serving as a layer of insulation for your garden. As the leaves decompose, they will add nutrients and promote microorganism health.

Can’t leave the leaves where they fall? Here are some other tips to collect leaves:

• Rake leaves and use a tarp to collect leaves.
• Add leaves to your backyard composter.
• Make leaf mold; the easiest way to make leaf mold is to just rake your leaves into a big pile and let the pile sit there to decompose for a few seasons. Leaf mold can be added to your garden beds.

Remember to:

• Rake leaves out of sewers and drainage pathways.
• Use natural landscaping and lawn alternatives to limit area that needs to be manicured but keep gardens free of prohibited plants that can pose a threat to human health or natural areas.

Want to learn more about protecting pollinators?

• The City’s Pollinator Protection Strategy aims to enhance and protect habitat in natural and urbanized areas.
• Get a grant for your pollinator garden from PollinateTO and check out our additional tips for creating a pollinator-friendly garden.

Rules For Outdoor Power Equipment

If it is necessary to use outdoor power equipment, please familiarize yourself with the rules for use so that your equipment is not disruptive. Outdoor power equipment includes devices used in the maintenance of lawns, including leaf blowers, lawnmowers, grass trimmers, chainsaws or any other similar equipment.

Noise Bylaw

Avoid using your outdoor power equipment too early or too late in the day and let your neighbours sleep in on weekends and holidays. Powered devices can be used from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays. Power devices are also permitted from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays. These rules do not apply to snow removal devices or devices used to maintain golf courses, public parks or any City operations, including services contracted by the City. Learn more about the rules for power devices in the Noise Bylaw.

Use of Streets and Sidewalk Bylaw

Help keep our sidewalks clean by not blowing leaves and lawn clippings onto sidewalks and roads. Learn more about the regulations in the Use of Streets and Sidewalk Bylaw.

What to Do If Rules Are Not Followed

If you have concerns about leaf blower noise and leaves and debris being blown onto roads and sidewalks, consider speaking with those responsible to give them an opportunity to correct the issue. If this approach does not work, call 311 or submit a complaint online.

Power Device Noise During Permitted Hours

Concerns about power device noise during permitted hours in the Noise Bylaw can be submitted through 311 Toronto. Reports submitted will not be investigated, but will be logged and used to guide future policy and enforcement initiatives. It is important to provide as many specific details as possible about the noise, including its time and location, as well as the type of equipment being used (if possible).

Resources

City Resources

• How to Help Wild Bees and Other Native Pollinators
• List of Native Plants, Trees and Shrubs
• Pollinator Protection Strategy
• Biodiversity Strategy
• Turfgrass and Prohibited Plants
• Yard Waste

Impact of Leaf Blowers and Outdoor Power Equipment on Urban Noise and Biodiversity

• The Problem with Leaf Blowers, and What You Can Do Instead: Discusses how leaf blowers displace, injure, and kill pollinators and other insects, while their noise disrupts bird feeding, nesting, and mating habits.
• Leaf Blower Disservices for Human and Ecosystem Health in the City – The Nature of Cities: An article discussing how leaf blowers contribute to noise pollution, air pollution, and ecological disruption in urban environments.
• The Unintended Consequences of Leaf Blowers – Municipality of Barrington, RI: Explains how leaf blowers disturb beneficial insects and critters essential to healthy ecosystems and disperse harmful chemicals into the air.
• Why Cities are Taking Action to Limit Loud, Polluting Lawn Care – The National Audubon Society: Explores how gas-powered lawn equipment contributes to noise pollution, emits harmful pollutants, and affects both humans and wildlife.

Sustainable Lawns

• Ditch the Grass! Convert Your Lawn with These Nine Alternatives – David Suzuki Foundation: Practical tips on replacing traditional lawns with native plants, groundcovers, and other sustainable options.
• Lawn Alternatives for Your Yard – Fine Gardening: Offers a variety of low-maintenance, eco-friendly alternatives to traditional grass lawns, including groundcovers, ornamental grasses, and more.
• Lawn Alternatives – Penn State: Discusses options like sedges and no-mow grasses that mimic the uniform green of a lawn while requiring less maintenance.
• Grow Beyond No Mow May: Options for Reducing Your Lawn – The National Wildlife Federation: Suggests replacing lawns with native species and managing remaining lawn areas to benefit pollinators and other wildlife.
• Bring on the Alternative Lawns! – Nature Conservancy of Canada: Discusses the benefits of diverse ground covers over traditional grass lawns.

Council Decision History

July 4, 2017: City Council adopted the report, TransformTO: Climate Action for a Healthy, Equitable and Prosperous Toronto – Report 2 – The Pathway to a Low Carbon Future (2017.PE19.4), Attachment C – Evaluation of Potential Additions to TransformTO Report 1 Strategies, which provided an overview of City activities and issues related to gas powered lawn and garden equipment.

September 30, 2020: City Council adopted Request to Study the Environmental Impact of Two-Stroke Engine Garden Equipment (2020.IE15.8) which requested the City Manager, in consultation with the Medical Officer of Health, to report back in the first quarter of 2021 on the environmental and associated health impacts of gasoline powered two-stroke engine leaf blowers and other similarly operated garden equipment, including the feasibility of a year-round ban or a ban from May to September. Council also requested the City Manager, in consultation with the Medical Officer of Health and the Executive Director of Municipal Licensing and Standards, to report back on the noise generated from gas-powered and electric leaf blowers and other similar garden equipment, including the feasibility of a year-round ban or a ban from May to September.

October 26, 2021: Infrastructure and Environment Committee, in its adoption of the report, Phasing Out Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers for Municipal Use (2021.IE25.21), requested the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, the General Manager, Transportation Services and the General Manager, Fleet Services to report back in the first quarter of 2022 with a transition plan and feasibility assessment of phasing out gas-powered leaf blowers for municipal use by 2025.

December 15, 2021 — in its decision Part 20 on the report, TransformTO – Critical Steps for Net Zero by 2040 (2021.IE26.16), City Council expressed its support for a ban on use of two-stroke engine leaf blowers, lawnmowers and other small engine equipment and vehicles and requested a report back on the implementation of a ban as part of the noise update report in 2022. Report 2021.IE26.16 Attachment F – Small Engine Lawn and Garden Equipment, responded to a request (2020.IE15.8) to report on the environmental and associated health impacts of gasoline-powered, two-stroke engine leaf blowers and other similarly operated garden equipment, including the feasibility of a year-round ban or a ban from May to September.

July 19, 2022 — City Council adopted the Report on Outstanding Noise Issues (2022.EC31.4), including a Supplementary Report – Outstanding Noise Directives – Additional Information on Leaf Blower Noise (2022.EC31.4a), which responded to a request from City Council (2021.IE26.16). In its decision City Council amended Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 591, Noise, Section 2.6 – Power devices, to further restrict when the devices can be used and to exempt all City operations (including services contracted by the City) from the bylaw. City Council directed the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to develop a plan to phase-out the gas-powered equipment that is used by Parks, Forestry and Recreation, within a reasonable timeframe. City Council directed the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, to undertake public education on appropriate use of lawn equipment and to report back during the Noise Bylaw Review in 2023 regarding options for setting decibel limits for power devices.

January 30, 2023 — Infrastructure and Environment Committee directed the City Manager to report back to the April 26, 2023 meeting of Infrastructure and Environment Committee with a plan to implement a ban on use of two-stroke engine leaf blowers, lawnmowers and other small engine equipment because of their adverse impact on air quality and human health, separately from the noise bylaw review referred to in Recommendation 20 of Item IE26.16, in its decision on Net Zero Actions Update (2023.IE1.11). This report responds to that direction.

June 21, 2023 – The City Manager reported back to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee. This report outlined the first step, which is to seek Council direction on whether Council wishes to pursue a ban on two-stroke engines within Toronto. Subject to City Council direction and resourcing, and following consultation with residents and businesses, a second report would be brought forward to provide a detailed plan to establish, implement, enforce and encourage compliance with a ban, including a proposed bylaw. (Two-Stroke Engine Small Equipment: Steps to Pursue a Ban).