# Am I a jerk for blowing grass clippings into the street? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 23, 2017, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127 "2017-09-23T23:37:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/21 "2017-09-24T17:53:43Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I hope not, because I’ve done it sometimes. I feel guilty, but not because I’m going to cause some annoying motorcyclist to fall down, but because I’m passing my work onto someone else, namely, the street sweepers. It feels lazy. “not because I’m going to cause some annoying motorcyclist to fall down” If it was proven it harmed motorcyclist and no one else, would you still do it or more aggressively do it? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/22 "2017-09-24T18:28:18Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > What do you think happens to YOUR garbage? The magic garbage fairy is going to blink it away? > > _Your_ garbage, _your_ responsibility. Since when are glass clippings “garbage”? It’s grass, it’ll decompose quickly and safely. It’s not like the OP is asking if it’s okay to throw empty beer bottles into the street. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/23 "2017-09-24T21:32:56Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Since when are glass clippings “garbage”? It’s grass, it’ll decompose quickly and safely. [Not really](http://www.chron.com/life/gardening/article/Lazy-Gardener-Never-put-grass-down-storm-drains-1824872.php). Bolding mine. > [@](#): > > It is your responsibility to make sure that nothing but untainted rain water flows from your yard into storm drains. Lawn clippings, leaves and other debris often clump, contributing to flooding in your neighborhood. And that’s only the beginning. > > If you’ve used chemicals on your lawn or garden, they may contaminate the water that runs off from rains or your sprinkler system. > > Even nontreated lawn clippings do harm. **When they decompose, they release carbon and nitrogen that feeds undesirable algae, which, in turn, use up oxygen in the water, contributing to fish kills.** ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/24 "2017-09-24T22:30:57Z")
It’s illegal in my town, although a few grass clippings wouldn’t bother anyone. The real crunch comes with the guy who cleans the snow out of my driveway. He tries his damndest, but sometimes, when there is already 4 or 5 feet of snow on the lawn, to avoid getting some into the street or on the sidewalk. Eventually the town comes along and cleans the sidewalks and streets, but that can take a day or two during which you have to walk in the street. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/25 "2017-09-25T00:20:10Z")
As a motorcyclist ---- normal amounts are fine but if you let the grass go to your hips before cutting it its borderline an issue for me. Now shovel snow out into an otherwise dry road and you should be stabbed, shot, drawn, quartered and have your remains fed to rats. ---
**Author:** ![nate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nate/32/13085_2.png) [@nate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nate)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/26 "2017-09-25T01:07:18Z")
Just about everyone in my neighborhood blows their clippings into the street, including me. It all disappears in a day or so and as far as I can tell it’s never caused problems with drainage. Granted, I blow clippings from my driveway into the nearest grass or the street, whichever is closer, so it’s not like I blow everything out there. After a few cars drive by you can hardly see it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/27 "2017-09-25T01:22:37Z")
Where I live everyone does it and about once a week a big truck comes through and sucks it all up. I had no idea that this happened until I’d lived here two years and had bagged leaves dozens of times. They prefer you not leave bags, but just leave the trash out where they can come by and suck it up. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/28 "2017-09-25T02:06:02Z")
Tacky and kinda lazy, but that doesn’t necessarily make you a grade A jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/29 "2017-09-25T03:30:26Z")
Yes, it’s jerkish. And around here, neighbors would come by and explain that to you. Where do you think they go from the street? They don not just ‘disappear’. Here, they go about 2 blocks to end up in the lake or the creek. Contributing to the overgrowth of algae and fish kill, that leads to the swimming beach being closed several times each summer when the water is too bacteria-laden to swim in. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/30 "2017-09-25T04:32:23Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I live in the boonies - there are no curbs. When I ride my mower down the side by the street, I try to stay close to the fence when the blower is aimed at the road, then when I cut along the road, the clippings blow towards the fence. The swath is about 10-12’ wide, so it takes maybe 5 passes to get it all - some blows in the street, some doesn’t. Leaves that blow off the trees fall in the street. People drop trash in the street. My clippings dry up and blow away regardless of where they fall initially. I’ll stop the mower when a car or a pedestrian passes by so they don’t get hit by the mower discharge, but other than that, it’s not something I think about. Same here. When I cut right by the road, it goes in the street. No one can avoid it, unless they bag the clippings. Most yards here are too large for bagging, so out in the street it goes. Most of us also shovel the snow into the yard across form the end of the driveway. It’s just what everyone does. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/31 "2017-09-25T05:24:55Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Yes, it’s jerkish. And around here, neighbors would come by and explain that to you. > > Where do you think they go from the street? They don not just ‘disappear’. > > Here, they go about 2 blocks to end up in the lake or the creek. Contributing to the overgrowth of algae and fish kill, that leads to the swimming beach being closed several times each summer when the water is too bacteria-laden to swim in. Around here, it never rains. So, if you don’t sweep them up, they either sit there until the street sweeper comes, or they blow away. If it did rain, they end up in the retention basin, which is grass. Which doesn’t mean it still isn’t existentially lazy, but it’s no ecological disaster. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/32 "2017-09-25T10:51:13Z")
> [@Mudshark](#): > > Same here. When I cut right by the road, it goes in the street. No one can avoid it, unless they bag the clippings. Most yards here are too large for bagging, so out in the street it goes. Most of us also shovel the snow into the yard across form the end of the driveway. It’s just what everyone does. " it goes in the street. No one can avoid it," Really? I mow about an acre with about 300’ of road frontage. Very little gets on the road simply by making the first few passes blowing back into my yard. The first 3 rounds are actually backwards so I can get right up to the edge without the damned chute being in the way. " Most of us also shovel the snow into the yard across form the end of the driveway. It’s just what everyone does." for people like you in this case the title query is answered yes. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/33 "2017-09-25T12:41:47Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > A mulching mower eliminates this concern while feeding your lawn. Our neighborhood has sloped curbs (so no cutouts needed for driveways); when I run my mulching mower along the edge of the street, I have two wheels on the street and two wheels in the grass, and this puts a good bit of grass on the street. Afterwards I use a blower to get it off of the street and onto the lawn. This is not for motorcyclists; there’s not _that_ much grass in the street. I clean up because I think it looks like crap, and I try to keep my property looking decent. There aren’t any militant lawn-care fanatics in our neighborhood, but when I look up and down the street, the general standard of care involves not leaving clippings in the street. When I ride my motorcycle through residential areas like mine I don’t operate at the limits of traction, and I’m pretty sure anybody who rides so hard that they slide out on a little bit of grass clippings would be the only one receiving a citation from the police. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/34 "2017-09-25T13:11:04Z")
I usually would cut it just enough that the grass clippings are small enough to act as a mulch, never blew it into the street. I typically would leave it alone. Seen plenty of neighbors do it though, I don’t really see the issue. Except maybe clogging up a sewer, seems like a small risk though, unless your grass is a foot tall. Honestly, the real jerks are the people who use those sprinklers that spray all of the sidewalk and freshly cleaned and waxed parked cars. Unless its super hot out, nobody wants to pause until it oscillates to the other direction. Nobody wants water spots on their cleaned cars either. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/35 "2017-09-25T16:02:51Z")
I’m another who thinks it’s jerkish. Just blow the clippings into your own yard and that will help give your grass nutrients instead of the grass going into the nearest waterway. ---
**Author:** ![Zyanthia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Zyanthia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyanthia)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/36 "2017-09-25T18:52:35Z")
I think it’s illegal in my neck of the woods. > [@](#): > > Grass, leaves and other loose yard waste must be placed in your own metal or plastic trash container, no larger than 32 gallons. Filled cans should weigh no more than 50 lbs. - My cities yard waste collection rules ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/37 "2017-09-25T19:02:56Z")
Jesus, that’s a lot of unsmoked grass blowin’ in the wind, man. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/38 "2017-09-25T19:08:24Z")
I work for a municipal government and frequently have to deal with these sorts of complaints. To be clear, the biggest problem associated with depositing grass clippings along the curb/gutters or using a blower to blow them into the streets is that the clippings end up clogging the storm water drains and can cause streets to flood whenever it rains. I suspect most folks just don’t realize the flooding of their roads is often connected with the accumulation of leaf and grass debris. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/39 "2017-09-25T20:35:32Z")
For things like this, I find it helpful to think of it this way: If you’re wondering if something is OK for you to do, would it also be OK if \*everyone \*did it? If the answer is no, then it’s probably not a good idea to do it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127/40 "2017-09-25T20:40:53Z")
I can see how it could be problematic, but not how it could be jerkish. You aren’t intentionally trying to hurt people, and there is no one directly affected. It just may cause undesirable effects. (And, no, I don’t buy the motorcycle one. Why are you driving so close to the side of the road, anyways?) What I’ve done when I’ve blown it in the street is to just come back around and run the mower on the street, with the blade rather high up (just in case). This blows it back into my yard somewhat. Granted, on a push mower, it’s easier to correct the direction, so this usually happens with a riding mower. I guess I could actually go with a big broom and fix it, but that always seemed overkill. Especially when all my neighbors have done it at one point or another. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-blowing-grass-clippings-into-the-street/797127.md?page=3)