Last Saturday the city of Forth Worth, Texas hosted a lawn mower exchange program featuring Neuton.

The program is designed to reduce summer air pollution by taking gasoline-powered mowers out of service. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that some older gas mowers produce the same hourly emissions as 11 cars.

The event turnout? "Overwhelming."

The event was scheduled to start Saturday at 9 a.m. By 6 a.m., people were already lined up at LaGrave Field to swap their mowers for a voucher for a Neuton CE 5.2 Battery-Powered Mower. Some appeared to have camped out overnight, said Suzanne Sweeton, public education coordinator for the city’s Environmental Management Department.

By 7 a.m., 200 people were in line, meeting the program’s quota two hours before the event was supposed to begin.

"We did not anticipate so many people," Sweeton said. "The response was overwhelming."

Would you be interested in a gas lawn mower trade-in program in your community? If so, contact your local clean air agency and ask them to offer one. You can find your clean air agency here.