As springtime sun brings new growth, quiet moments in the garden are under siege from gas-powered lawnmowers, leaf blowers and chainsaws. Mougins, a town in the Alpes-Maritimes, has come up with a surprisingly modern solution: subsidies for electric garden tools.
That pesky neighbour’s noisy hedge trimmer might soon be little more than a distant hum in Mougins, where the local administration has devised a clever plan to reduce the cacophony caused by commonly used garden tools. To cut down on both noise and emissions, the town is offering residents up to 30% off the cost of new electric garden equipment—a green-powered solution to an old problem.
One local, with a 1,000sqm garden to manage, recently swapped his gas-powered leaf blower for an electric one.
“It cost me €389,” he told France 3 Côte d’Azur, “but with the €116 grant, I only paid €273.”
Gas mowers alone reach about 70 decibels, louder than a passing car. That’s enough to drown out an afternoon read or a post-lunch snooze under the olive tree.
The town of roughly 20,000 inhabitants has reportedly already received 40-odd applications for assistance under the new subsidy programme, which is currently running as a year-long trial. Local gardening stores are even getting in on the action, offering QR codes that link directly to the town’s application form.
Christophe Ulivieri, Mougins’ First Deputy Mayor, told France 3 Côte d’Azur that the move away from traditional tools such as petrol-powered lawnmowers, chainsaws and leaf blowers is primarily to “improve the quality of life of residents.
“It’s really been a credo for years, but we’ve stepped up to eliminate the gas-powered ones,” he told the newspaper.
The town plans to evaluate the success of the initiative after a year, but early interest suggests residents are open to trading engine roars for quieter, eco-friendly alternatives. If the programme proves effective, it could serve as a model for other communities looking to reduce noise pollution—one electric lawnmower at a time.
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