By Richard A. McCoy
Owner/ President of McCoy Horticultural Services, Inc.
American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA) Northeast Representative
Member, ELA, NJNLA, and NJLCA
Over the past few years, mainly during the COVID-19 pandemic, the banning of gas-powered leaf blowers (GLBs) has ramped up in the state of New Jersey and is at minimum a contentious debate point. Reflecting on the June 20th, 2024, Senate Hearing in New Jersey, it appears that environmental consciousness and the landscape industry have reached yet another crossroads. The Green Industry is proactively moving towards more sustainable gardening and landscaping practices and tools. As an industry, we have been expressing a need to collaborate with activist groups and legislators who prove to show little interest in an equitable outcome for all.
As a frame of reference for potential economic impacts of the New Jersey Turfgrass Industry: 2019 Economic Impact, Structure, and Characteristics Report, New Jersey turfgrass service providers billed an estimated $1.2 billion for services provided in 2019. Mowing accounted for the largest share of sales at 51%. The total impact of New Jersey’s service providers on the State was estimated to be $2.3 billion. New Jersey turfgrass service providers generated an estimated $127.3 million in State tax revenue in 2019, including sales and use tax, personal income tax, and corporate business tax.
Replacing one gas leaf blower requires an electric system, which includes the blower plus multiple batteries and chargers. The cost can range from $3,500 to $8,000. Charging infrastructure support, in many cases, will increase the cost.
–AGZA President Dan Mabe
Founded in 1998, my company, Richard A. McCoy Horticultural Services Inc. began like many in the landscaping sector, utilizing conventional methods that included synthetic chemicals, non-native plants, and gas-powered blowers. This experience provides me with a unique set of circumstances to speak on transitioning from conventional landscape practices. In 2005, propelled by concerns over employee, client, and environmental health, we began to shift the company towards organic land care practices. This marked the beginning of a significant transformation to move away from conventional and move towards the higher priorities of soil health, native plants, and stormwater management. In 2017, with the assistance of AGZA, we launched our Sustainable Energy Transition Initiative Program to begin reducing our dependence on gas-powered equipment. The voluntary changes I’ve made in our business have set me on a path of advocacy in the industry and the general public. McCoy Horticultural’s adoption of alternative practices by no means should be taken as an everyone can and must do this now scenario. Rather, as an example of the excruciatingly difficult time and dedication it takes to understand how these methods work and implement them effectively, and then market these services to a part of the community that is seeking this type of work.
From this considerable experience, I’ve come to understand the complexities and challenges of this transition. It’s not merely about swapping one tool for another; it involves rethinking current conventional practices, embracing new equipment technology, and redesigning spaces to minimize the traditional reliance on GLBs. This encompasses strategic planting to reduce lawn areas and increase native vegetation, allowing nature to play a role in maintaining the landscape ecologically.
This journey toward sustainability will be different for every landscape company. All companies are not identical; their scale, service offerings, and clientele dictate the impact of transitioning away from GLBs. A small operation reliant on maintenance services might find the switch more burdensome than a larger company with a diverse portfolio. This is critical and shows that a one-size-fits-all ban on GLBs could have wide-ranging adverse implications across the sector.
I can tell you that in my personal experience. After transitioning away from gas, I find the idea of relying on GLBs during the peak seasons of spring and fall extremely undesirable. If it weren’t for the necessity of using the power of GLBs during these times, we would not use them. Despite lacking understanding of industry operations and customer demands. There are groups demanding immediate bans on gas equipment and the influence of these groups has played a significant role in accelerating the anti-GLB movement. Once these groups are formed and without spending a day in a pair of work boots, they seem to feel they are the authority on the topic. Any of these groups (or, for that matter, town councils) that I have spoken to over the years have no experience in the field of professional landscaping. Furthermore, outwardly, these groups claim to welcome input from landscape professionals. Inwardly, they want to have no dialog with industry and work in the vacuum of their own opinions and biases. This is not hyperbole. I have been personally excluded from meetings to offer a solutions-based path forward. In stating that, there is a small set of reasonably thinking members of these groups that I have engaged in meaningful dialogue with. However, they are indeed a very small minority.
On June 20th, 2024, a group of industry professionals gathered for a Senate Environment and Energy Committee hearing on Senate Bill 217. The goal of these experts was to present testimony and propose solutions that would offer a collaborative approach to transitioning away from GLB’s. Voicing their perspectives in testimony, representatives from several organizations, including the New Jersey Green Industry Council, New Jersey Nursery and Landscape Association, New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association, AGZA, and golf course superintendents all acknowledged the use of battery-powered blowers as an alternative in many cases, but not all, as the bill doesn’t account for the differences in companies and scale of properties. The group also sought a postponement of the vote to allow for further discussion and preparation.
The industry’s prudent and well-thought-out requests are not unreasonable. Additionally, by following the guidelines below to create meaningful and equitable programs, New Jersey would assume a leadership role as an example for the rest of the country to follow.
- Create and FUND educational programs for both professionals and consumers
- (i.e., safety, charging, use)
- Designate a period of Review
- See positive and unintended consequences and make amendments as needed
- Provide a rebate/point-of-sale program for commercial users
- Solar and EV sectors have been afforded billions of taxpayer dollars to implement their protocols
- The taxpayer activist groups that are demanding the industry upend its practices should assist monetarily with this transition
- Phased in battery backpack approach after the enactment.
- Create a viable recycling program for all batteries.
- A seasonal restriction on all gas-powered blowers.
- Would apply to residential, commercial, and municipal users. Golf courses exempt, as they require 4-stroke year-round.
- Seasonal allowances for gas-powered blowers
- GLB’s are permitted at residential and commercial sites between March 1 and May 15 and October 1 and January 15.
- Additional exemptions may be needed for storm cleanup.
- Include exemption for pesticide use as it is currently written.
- Disallow increased regulation by local municipalities and towns but allow for regulations already in place as of 1/1/24.
Despite the industry’s best effort to put forth a balanced, forward-looking plan of collaboration, the committee proceeded and passed the bill through to appropriations with minimal amendments to the original bill. Thus, signaling a rapid push toward banning gas-powered leaf blowers, marking this a pivotal moment for the industry in New Jersey. The proposed legislation calls for a ban on the sale and use of two-stroke gas-powered leaf blowers within two years, with a four-year timeline set for restricting the use of four-stroke gas-powered leaf blowers to non-residential areas. The implications of this legislative decision are profound for New Jersey. As the green industry navigates this transition, several questions and challenges must be addressed, how will small-scale operators adapt? What financial and logistical hurdles will companies face in switching to battery-powered equipment? Possibly most critically are the questions of, battery charging infrastructure and recycling, as well as if activist groups and legislators are open to collaboration with industry to ensure that the move toward sustainability is both effective and equitable.
“The problem of access to energy and its storage is the same with tools as it is with EVs but 10-fold. For tools used in the field, such as blowers that a person needs to carry, the size of the battery is minimized due to weight, and so are charging locations, compounding the problem further. Given education and better batteries and charging infrastructure, together, we can redesign the systems that the public and industry have created.” Daria Paxton Owner, Gaia Gardens LLC. Montclair, NJ
The Green Industry is requesting funding to help New Jersey shift to battery-powered equipment. While some companies have voluntarily begun phasing out gas equipment, pressure from external industry groups (aka taxpayers) has led to the need for an accelerated transition, which they, the taxpayers, should financially support. Mabe adds, “Historically, resources have been allocated to the solar and EV industries. Our industry requires and deserves substantial resources in the form of cost reductions at the point of sale and retraining for safety and workload efficiencies.”
The 30-plus years of educating myself on understanding the landscape industry, combined with diving deep into learning how the natural world relates and connects with a man-made landscape has given me and others in the fields of Low-impact, ecological, and regenerative land care far greater insight on how to make this transition than that of others from outside of our industry could ever understand. I implore legislators and activists to listen to us. We recognize that change is needed. They reciprocally need to recognize that change is happening. It has taken generations of collaboration from the consumer and the green industry to place us in the position we are currently in. The irony in the disconnect is that, from private discussions with legislators and activists, we are not far off from agreeing on a course to work collaboratively.
I urge you that if you are affiliated with the landscape industry, tree care, ground maintenance, power washing, or any industry that may be closely related and you are reading this issue I strongly suggest that you become part of your local association. Or, if you are a homeowner that is concerned about the outcome of this issue please write to your state and local legislators and include this letter.
The journey of Richard A. McCoy Horticultural Services Inc. from a conventional to a green-centric approach highlights a path forward, emphasizing the importance of innovation, adaptability, and communal action. This change in the New Jersey landscaping industry may be viewed as a microcosm for a wider shift toward sustainability. In navigating this transition, the lessons learned and the strategies developed will be invaluable in shaping a greener future for all.
Find your local legislator here, then contact them with the information contained in this article. Let New Jersey’s landscape professionals continue to move towards a balanced, forward-looking plan that will allow New Jersey to become a model state for doing this correctly!
For more information: richard@agza.net
About Richard A. McCoy
Richard A. McCoy Horticultural Services Inc. Offers organic lawn and land care solutions, native plant, and green infrastructure design and installations. Provides complete off-grid battery electric landscape maintenance powered by a prototype self- designed 1.8 kWh solar trailer and autonomous robotic lawn mowing. Richard is the Northeast representative for AGZA and a NOFA Accredited Land Care Professional. Richard is also an organic, ecological, and low-impact land care educator, teaching contractors (and others) how to make this complicated transition to alternative land care methods.
Other credentials:
Co-authored The Rutgers Organic Land Care Best Management Practices Manual
Recognized by the Smithsonian Institute’s Archives of American Gardens
2021 New Jersey Nursery and Landscape Association Horticulturalist of the Year
Acts as an advisor for nationally active groups:
- The Organic Landscape Association
- Non-Toxic Communities
- Re: Wild Your Campus
