The problem of noise pollution from gas-powered landscaping tools has gone unchecked in Cayman for too long.
Small landscaping firms rely on cheap, loud equipment – petrol blowers and trimmers often poorly maintained, with damaged silencers and fumes.
These machines are unnecessary in most residential and strata settings, yet are used indiscriminately, even Sundays. Customers are taken for a ride – paying for poor service that damages community wellbeing.
Residents are left with constant disruption. Crews move from property to property all day, so the noise never ends. On canals and in shared spaces, the sound carries further. Families with young children, shift workers and older residents suffer the most. Toddlers cry, people cannot work from home, and households describe themselves as ‘prisoners in their own homes’.
The Public Health Act (2021 Revision) gives the Department of Environmental Health powers to act on hazards, and repeated noise is a proven risk. Gardeners wear ear defenders – proof enough. Cayman’s Towns and Communities Act also addresses public nuisance, yet enforcement is immature.
Other parts of the community already lead by example. Dart properties – Camana Bay, the Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa and The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman – 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 request electric blowers. Strata groups elsewhere are also pushing back.
The solutions are clear:
• Cut unnecessary weekly visits.
• Use quieter electric tools and more manual methods.
• Modernise fleets – voluntarily if possible, but by requirement if necessary.
Cayman should not be ‘the land of the leaf blower’. On Little Cayman, with no blowers, the peace is blissful. We deserve the same.
Let’s get it done.
Department of Environmental Health, what do you need to hear, if you still can?
Gavin Baxendale
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