We are lucky to live in a ‘Cerified Green Zone’ in Maryland, which is a property “on which routine landscape maintenance is performed with low-impact equipment and people-powered tools”. This includes use of battery-operated blowers and trimmers, something Grand Cayman should consider. How peaceful mornings would be during our annual visits if the noise from those machines was reduced to a whisper!
Elliott Simons
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From concerned, almost deaf…residents
The problem of noise pollution from gas-powered landscaping tools has gone unchecked in Cayman for too long.
Small landscaping firms have built their business model around cheap, loud equipment — petrol leaf blowers and strimmers that are often poorly maintained, with damaged silencers and visible fumes. These machines are unnecessary in most residential and strata settings, yet they are used indiscriminately day after day, even Sunday!. Customers are taken for a ride: paying for poor service that damages community wellbeing.
Residents are left with constant disruption. Crews move from one property to the next all day, so the noise never ends. On open canals and in shared green spaces the sound carries even further. Families with young children, shift workers, and older residents suffer the most. We have toddlers in tears, people unable to work from home, and households describing themselves as “prisoners in their own homes.”
The Public Health Act (2021 Revision) gives the Department of Environmental Health powers to act on health hazards, and repeated noise exposure is a proven risk. Gardeners themselves wear ear defenders — that is proof enough. Cayman’s Towns and Communities Law also addresses public nuisance, yet noise enforcement remains immature.
Other parts of the community are already showing the way forward. Dart properties, Camana Bay, the Kimpton and the Ritz all use modern electric blowers, and only where sweeping or raking cannot do the job. NCB Property Management has even asked Crystal Harbour residents to press for electric blowers. Strata groups in other districts are also beginning to push back.
The solutions are clear:
• Reduce unnecessary weekly visits and pointless tasks.
• Use quieter electric tools and more manual methods.
• Modernise equipment fleets — voluntarily if possible, but by requirement if necessary.
Noise pollution is not trivial. The BBC recently highlighted how excessive noise harms mental and physical health.
‘How our noisy world is seriously damaging our health’ – https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmjdm2m4yjo
Cayman should not be known as “the land of the leaf blower.” On Little Cayman, where blowers seem absent, the peace is blissful. We deserve the same in our communities. Lets get it done – DEH, what do you need to hear, if you still can?