No time to maintain your own yard? We get it. That’s why many residents hire a landscaper. Conversations with your landscaper are important to ensure your yard is as sustainable as possible and that the landscaping workers are treated fairly.
No time to maintain your own yard? We get it. That’s why many residents hire a landscaper. Conversations with your landscaper are important to ensure your yard is as sustainable as possible and that the landscaping workers are treated fairly.
Landscapers should value sustainable services and the health and safety of their workers.
Use the following discussion points in conversations with your landscaper.
1. Plant native groundcover, plants, and trees. Replace part of your lawn with: a native meadow, low-maintenance groundcover, and/or flowerbeds, shrubs, and trees. Manicured lawns are high maintenance, require more fertilizer and increase stormwater runoff.
2. Mulch leaves. Mulched leaves provide nutrients back into the soil, reduce the use of landfills and reduce blocked stormwater drains. Instead of piling leaves by the curb, ask your landscaper to create a compost pile, use them as mulch, or mulch them with a mower.
3. Build a leaf corral. Corrals prevent leaves from blowing around and the leaves provide nutrients to your lawn as they decompose. Leaf piles on the street create safety hazards for bikers, block stormwater drains and feed unhealthy algae blooms, so talk to your landscaper about installing one today.
Download the Toolbook for Sustainable Landscaping Conversations (.pdf) to find numerous other actions to consider with your landscaper.
Find resources and additional information about each of these actions on our Sustainable Landscaping webpage.Â
Before you call, sort out your preferences. This is a conversation about what tasks should be done, and how. A few things you should consider in advance are:
Make sure that you are communicating with the owner of the company or someone with decision-making authority.Â
Acknowledge possible trade-offs and say what you could accept.Â
End the conversation with a clear way forward.
Health Effects of Long Term Noise Exposure
A single gas-powered leaf blower can create 90 or more decibels of noise, which has serious hearing implications for operators, as well as surrounding neighbors.
Landscapers are generally exposed to noise above the OSHA recommended limits and show elevated rates of hearing loss in addition to increased risk of injury, high blood pressure, heart disease, cognitive deficits, and dementia.
Make sure your landscapers wear gloves, masks, goggles and ear protection as needed.
Health Effects of Mowing, Blowing, and Trimming Equipment
Landscapers have an increased risk of injuries compared to other types of service workers such as injury risk from blades, strings, moving and rolling, clothing and hands, feet, caught in equipment, eye injury from flying branches, plant particles, etc.Â
Additional health effects include allergic reactions (asthma, skin reactions) to clipped and blown grass, plants and air pollutants, and particulates from exhaust close to faces.
Make sure your landscapers wear gloves, masks, goggles and ear protection as needed.
Sustainable Princeton is a non-partisan, non-profit organization in Princeton, NJ with a mission to inspire our community to develop and implement solutions that positively impact our environment. It’s our vision that Princeton be a model town that examines every action through the lens of sustainability ensuring a healthy environment, a strong economy, and the wellbeing of all community members now and in the future.
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