Mow Down Pollution encourages people to replace their old two and four-stroke gas-powered lawn and garden equipment with cleaner alternatives. This national event runs at The Home Depot locations across Canada, making it the largest of its kind in the country.

The 2011 Mow Down Pollution event was a huge success! Our goal for the eleventh annual event was to collect 7,500 gas-powered units; not only did we meet that goal, but we exceeded it! We successfully retired more than 9,000 mowers, trimmers, blowers and chainsaws across the country. Canadians responded to the call to action and participated in greater numbers than ever before.

By the end of the summer, the retired gas-powered units collected during the year’s event resulted in the prevention of 335 metric tonnes of point-of-use greenhouse gas and smog-forming emissions. This is a huge accomplishment and we’d like to thank the participants, our sponsors and especially our recycling partners who made the event a success.

It's clear that eleven years of Mow Down Pollution has made a positive difference for local air quality, one mower at a time.

QUICK FACTS

According to Environment Canada and the U.S. EPA, operating a two-stroke gas-powered lawn mower for one hour can emit as much pollution as driving a car more than 320 kilometres.*

According to Statistics Canada, gas-powered lawn equipment releases about 80,000 tonnes of emissions in Canada every year, using 151 million litres of gasoline.

* Actual figures depend on the year, make, and model of both the vehicle and lawnmower in question (see Environment Canada and U.S. EPA for more information).