Mow Down Air Pollution 2008

The 12th Annual Mow Down Event was held on Saturday, March 29th at Sacramento State.

The cordless rechargeable lawn mower exchange program promotes the use of electric lawnmowers, which benefits regional air quality. Electric lawn mowers also help reduce storm water pollution and promote recycling (grass & metal).

This year over 1200 Neuton electric rechargeable mowers were sold, which will result in approximately 19 tons of pollution reduced from the mowers turned in for exchange.  In addition, those turned in mowers resulted in nearly 44 tons of metal recycled.

Thanks to the following program sponsors: the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District (AQMD), Yolo-Solano AQMD, Placer County Air Pollution Control District, El Dorado County AQMD and the Sacramento County Department of Waste Management and Recycling. We also acknowledge and offer our sincere thanks to all other partners and volunteers, in particular Sims Hug Heu, Tyler Pierce and Mesa Verde High School and Autumn Wind Associates.

Below is a summary of Mow Down Air Pollution statistics over the life of the program to date:

Mow Down Air Pollution Program Statistics
Program Year	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	TOTAL
Mowers Sold	783	1000	1186	1200	800	1192	478	598	561	754	1357	1230	11139
Recycled metal (tons)	27.1	34.5	46.7	43.6	28.9	42.6	13.6	19.3	18.9	24.3	47.1	43.7	390.3
Emissions Reduced (tons)*	8.7	10.2	12.0	11.6	9.0	11.5	4.6	5.8	5.5	7.4	13.2	19	118.5

*Emission estimates made using ARB data.