With 500 acres of mowable grass, 300 acres of parking lot and 30 miles of sidewalk to maintain, Saint Paul Public Schools’ maintenance and grounds crews keep busy year-round ensuring the spaces around our schools and office buildings are in peak condition. Thanks to a generous equipment donation from Toro and support from MTI Distributing, the head engineers at two schools will get to do this important work while reducing the district’s carbon footprint.
The donated equipment includes top-of-the-line electric snow blowers, power shovels, lawnmowers, weed whips and leaf blowers, as well as the batteries and charging stations needed to keep them running. The equipment will be piloted at Battle Creek Elementary and Battle Creek Middle School this school year as part of the district’s Energy Action Plan, which aims to reduce SPPS’s greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030. Read the executive summary and the full Energy Action Plan here.
In total, the district owns 120 lawnmowers, 140 snowblowers, 100 leaf blowers and 100 weed whips. It would cost an estimated $1 million to replace them all; this generous donation from Toro, valued at over $12,000, is a welcome first step.
“Our custodial, maintenance and environmental services teams are all excited about this, “ said SPPS Assistant Director of Facilities Scott Hrouda. “We think it will be a win-win-win.”
