Gardeners asked to go peat free
9 March 2010
All growing media products for home gardeners are to be peat free by 2020 if new Government targets are reached.
Announced on 8 March by Environment Minister Hilary Benn, the targets coincide with the latest initiative in the consumer awareness campaign, Act on CO2. This encourages gardeners to go peat-free in a bid to cut carbon emissions and preserve wild habitats. It means that garden centres and DIY stores have 10 years to cease trading peat-based products and switch to peat-free alternatives.
‘The horticultural industry has made progress in reducing peat use over recent years, but given the urgency of reducing our emissions we need to go much further,’ said Hilary Benn. ‘I know that the proposed 2020 phase-out target for the amateur market will be challenging, but we know this is what we need to do. Peat soils are extremely valuable carbon stores as well as being home to wildlife and important to archaeology, and we should be doing everything we can to protect them.’
Manufacturers of growing media and the Horticultural Trades Association have welcomed the new targets as long as there are adequate alternatives available at the right price and quality with the right environmental benefits.
The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is now working on targets for professional growers which it hopes to announce in the summer.
Read more on peat and the environment