AQMD BOARD OKS LAWN MOWER TRADE-IN.

Byline: Marni McEntee Daily News Staff Writer

Old lawn mowers might not fetch the price of Jackie O's faux pearls, but air quality officials are trying to make it worth consumers' while to trade in smog-belching lawn and garden equipment for nonpolluting machines.

In a voluntary program approved Friday by the South Coast Air Quality Management District's governing board, businesses would offer incentives to consumers in trade for gas-powered lawn mowers, leaf blowers and vacuums, chain saws, edgers and trimmers.

But don't start counting those greenbacks yet.

The district first has to entice businesses to operate the buyback program. The incentive is that they could earn emission-reduction credits - meaning they can pollute a bit more in the short term as long as they voluntarily replace the turned-in equipment with cleaner varieties.

By paying consumers for their old equipment - companies can buy the credits to delay compliance with pollution rules, meet smog-cutting requirements or to offset smog increases at new or expanding facilities.

Once a company buys into the program, consumers, in turn, would be given rebates, discounts or other incentives by the company for the items they trade in, AQMD spokesman Sam Atwood said.

Companies must make sure that any old equipment was operable before it was turned in and make sure it is rendered inoperable so it can't be used again.

What it all means is that homeowners and other gardeners don't have to dirty the air while they clean up their yards.

The worst smog culprits are lawn mowers, Atwood said. A two-stroke lawn mower emits as much smog-forming volatile organic compound pollution as 72 new cars driving at 30 mph.

``Mowers don't have any pollution controls on them whatsoever,'' Atwood said. ``They're rather primitive engines that belch a sizable amount of smog.''

Many of today's cleaner mowers are cordless, lightweight and powered by rechargeable batteries, Atwood said. They can mow up to half an acre on a single charge.

The district hopes that businesses large and small will take advantage of the opportunity to earn emission reduction credits - even if they just sell clean gardening equipment to consumers.

An estimated 1.73 million commercial and residential lawn mowers, blowers and other utility tools emit 22 tons per day of volatile organic compounds - more than is put out by all the aircraft in the South Coast Air Basin, officials said.

The basin includes Los Angeles and Orange counties and parts of San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

The same tools emit nearly a ton per day of nitrogen oxide and 182 tons per day of carbon monoxide - two major components of smog.

Emission reduction credits will be issued to companies that help get rid of the old equipment based on the pounds of pollutants each machine emitted per year, minus the pollution caused by the replacement model.

The cleaner the replacement, the more credits will be earned. That means electric-powered equipment would earn the most.