ÖDP application rejected: City gardeners continue to use leaf blowers
Created: 2022-11-10 09:09
By: Ingrid Zeilinger
The city park is also currently being cleared of leaves - here even with heavy equipment.
It doesn't work without machines.
© Peter Weber
The building yard employees are still on the road with leaf blowers.
A request from the ÖDP to rake by hand as far as possible on urban green areas was rejected.
Fürstenfeldbruck – But city gardeners are increasingly using electronic devices to reduce noise and emissions.
Every autumn, discussions about leaf vacuums and leaf blowers boil up.
Private individuals, but above all building yard employees, use them to clear away leaves.
In view of the energy crisis, the ÖDP came up with the idea of combining energy saving and species protection.
Therefore, the city council should decide to avoid the use of leaf blowers as much as possible.
"Leaf blowers are also not practical for biodiversity," said climate protection officer Alexa Zierl (ÖDP) in the main committee.
It doesn't work without it
She referred to the municipality of Haar (Munich district), which did not use leaf blowers for a one-year test phase.
The conclusion: it doesn't work without it.
"But they only use them in areas with a traffic safety obligation," says Zierl.
OB Erich Raff interjected that Haar was a smaller commune.
In Fürstenfeldbruck there are over 20,000 square meters of green space.
(
By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular
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Valentin Zeh, head of the city gardening department in the Bauhof, reported that the 27,000 square meter area at the Marthabräuweiher was cleared of leaves in two days.
The result: a mountain of leaves three meters high, three meters wide and six to eight meters long.
According to Zeh, the cost of the work is 5,000 euros.
With the rake, three employees would need around seven days, which would cost 10,000 to 12,000 euros.
"Using several people for a grass area for seven days makes no sense," said Philipp Heimerl (SPD).
According to Zeh, only blowing off asphalt surfaces is useless.
The wind blows the leaves back onto the paths.
"Then the road sweeper would have to drive in winter too, it would clear up the grit again."
protection of species
On the subject of species protection, Zeh emphasized that leaves would also be swept into forests and under shrubs.
"I'm happy about every leaf that I don't have to pick up." Because all the leaves have to be composted and spread out again as soil.
"This preserves the living space," said Andreas Lohde (CSU).
Because even a rake interferes with the habitat of the animals.
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When asked by Markus Droth (FW), Zeh explained that cordless vacuum cleaners were currently being tested in the building yard.
Electric hedge trimmers are already being used.
However, the batteries would have to be fully utilized throughout the year.
It doesn't make sense to buy a lot of equipment just for use in the fall.
One euro jobber
Willi Dräxler (BBV) suggested using one-euro jobbers to rake leaves and thus save energy.
Zeh replied that the work was dependent on the weather and could not be planned in advance.
"I don't have enough work every day to employ ten one-euro jobbers." There are other tasks too, replied Dräxler.
More debate?
Zierl would have liked to have discussed the topic again in the environmental committee – which in her opinion is the right body.
But the other councils didn't see it that way.
Against her vote, the main committee decided not to make any further restrictions on leaf blowers and to examine the use of battery-powered ones and, if possible, to give preference to replacement purchases.
Zierl does not give up.
On Wednesday morning she spent two hours in the Laub city park.
"I thought I'd try out a piece myself." She wants to discuss with city gardener Zeh whether she could take over the piece in the city park as godmother and then add up the hours to start Haar's experiment.
You intend to turn it into a citizens' action – analogous to Ramadama.
You can find more current news from the district of Fürstenfeldbruck at Merkur.de/Fürstenfeldbruck.
