Why do we still blow leaves with gasoline? ‘They are really outdated’ | Nijmegen

What causes such confusion? Answer Thar is an employee. With a black trunk in hand, he is busy clearing away the fallen leaves in early autumn. Apparently they are on the way under our room. Nowadays cars drive electric, old people cycle super fast on trendy e-bikes, why on earth are we still raking leaves with traditional antiquated devices?!

“They are really outdated,” says former GroenLinks councilor Joep Bos Coenraad. During his tenure as a councillor, he once asked questions during a council meeting. “There is a sustainable, electric alternative. In response to a motion I submitted to restrict the use of petrol leaf blowers, the previous councilor and Tarr promised, but they are still widely used. I wonder why we are doing this to our environment.

Seeing the petition submitted by Joyce Haringa makes it clear that I’m not the only one annoyed by the use of leaf blowers. She gets annoyed when she hears pitches in the city building and on the Marienbosch campus. “Leaf blowers are harmful to people and the environment,” he says. “They cause noise pollution, poor air quality, kill insects and destroy soil life.” He is calling on SSH& through a petition to stop using leaf blowers around campuses.

Monique Pence, SSH&’s housing manager, said they had to weigh the effects on safety, maintenance and nature. “We have to take the residents into account. They want a clean living environment that should not become unsafe with slippery pavements. The company that does the landscaping for us sometimes leaves leaves and sometimes removes them with a leaf blower or a rake. If left there for too long, the grass rots,” he said.

Well, maintenance is important. But why does this happen with devices that make noise and guzzle gasoline? De Dar, who is responsible for green maintenance in the city, reports that 60 percent of leaf blowers are electric. In addition, many leaves are no longer cleaned. The municipality’s objective is to evacuate as much as possible to avoid dangerous situations. The basic principle is to remove a maximum of 25 percent of fallen leaves from the street. A decent percentage. I hope they will also leave the leaves in my work environment from now on.

Returning to the room with my coffee, as calm returns, I think back to the time Dar came to pick up the trash from our student house. I poured coffee for the men and they smoked a cigarette on the sidewalk. “You know what tar is, don’t you?” asked one of the people. I don’t know. “Do onewas constructed Keep calm,” he replied with a smile. A lesson to think about during your next coffee break.