Delaware County lawn equipment is a big polluter. Its gas-powered mowers, blowers, and trimmers produce 46.72 tons of fine particulate pollution annually, equal to the pollution from 501,414 typical cars, reports a PennEnvionment analysis.

A trio of environmental organizations released a report Monday focusing on the air pollution damage in the Philadelphia region and statewide from lawn equipment, writes Frank Kummer for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

One commercial lawn mower running for an hour produces as much smog pollution as driving 300 miles in a car. For leaf blowers, it’s a 1,100-mile car ride, according to the study by Environment America, US PIRG, and Frontier Group.

Such sobering statistics have brought a movement to ban or restrict the use of blowers.

EPA rules for lawn equipment were passed in 2008 and are being phased in over time which should reduce emissions considerably by 2030, according to Virginia Nurk, a spokeswoman for U.S. EPA Region 3.

Sixty U.S. municipalities. have called for bans or restrictions on gas-powered lawn equipment.

“The EPA says clearly that these two-stroke engines produce carcinogens,” said Seth Lieberman of Quiet Clean Philly. “They produce benzene, butadiene, formaldehyde. This is not crazy science.”

Find out more about the pollution impact from Delaware County lawn equipment in The Philadelphia Inquirer.