The Regional Air Quality Council (RAQC) is the lead air quality planning agency for the nine-county Denver Metro/North Front Range Ozone Nonattainment Area. The RAQC plays a lead role in developing strategies to improve air quality and coordinating air quality planning initiatives. 

In an effort to reduce ground-level ozone and improve air quality, the RAQC’s Mow Down Pollution – Lawn Mower Exchange program offers financial incentives to people who choose to recycle and replace their gas-powered lawn mowers with rechargeable or corded electric lawn mowers. The program typically opens in May each year. 

In 2021, 183 Fort Collins community members received $150 vouchers toward the purchase of new electric mowers. Together, we accomplished removing:

• 43 pounds of Nitrogen Oxide, an important ozone precursor.  Nitrogen oxides are created when air (which is 20% oxygen, O2, and 80% Nitrogen, N2) moved through the intense heat and pressure of the internal combustion engine. 
• 417 pounds of Volatile Organic Compounds, the other most important ozone precursor, which comes from the gasoline we use to power our vehicles.
• 4,758 pounds of Carbon Monoxide, a toxic air pollutant that affects human health, especially among sensitive populations.
• 89,670 pounds of greenhouse gas pollution, in the form of carbon dioxide, one of the most important greenhouse gases.

These reductions are equivalent to removing 550 car commuters off the road for two days a week, for an entire year. 

Excellent work, Fort Collins! 

Visit the RAQC's Mow Down Pollution Program