For peat’s sake, why are we still waiting for compost ban?
ERIN MCDAID of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust says a new consultation into phasing out peat-based compost is a step in the right direction, but the Government needs to get a move on
IN articles earlier this year I highlighted that as an avid but environmentally aware gardener I’d managed to successfully grow myriad plants while avoiding the use of peat-based composts for over 20 years.
I also promoted the Wildlife Trusts’ call for an immediate ban on the sale of peat-based composts – a call triggered by the ineffectiveness of existing voluntary deadlines for phasing out its use.
The UK’S peatlands store as much carbon as the forests of the UK, Germany and France combined, yet 80% of these vital habitats are now degraded.
The extraction of peat for horticulture contributes damage and destruction by stripping peatlands of vegetation, exposing the peat to the atmosphere and allowing carbon dioxide to be released in massive quantities.
As we move into a new year, I should be pleased to report the Government’s new consultation on phasing out the use of this precious natural resource. But, as is ever the case, the devil is in the detail and the details suggest this is another case of too little, too late.
In framing the consultation, which runs until March, both the Welsh and English Governments have set the bar too low and have fallen well short of the level of ambition needed to protect and restore our peatlands.
By focusing on use of peat by amateur gardeners, this damp squib of a consultation also misses a vital opportunity to accelerate the end of its commercial use too.
The consultation merely calls for evidence about the impacts of ending peat use in professional horticulture.
We already know about the harmful effects - so there is no need to wait. The consultation acknowledges the damaging effects of peat extraction; yet this activity is still allowed in England.
If you’ll excuse me using what is at least a vaguely gardening related idiom, the Government has kicked this vital issue into the long grass for too long.
Just weeks after the COP26 ended without the level of action and urgency required, it is disturbing to see yet more evidence of dithering and delay.
As a result, The Wildlife Trusts have reiterated their call for an immediate ban on all peat sales, peat extraction and peat imports to help address the nature and climate crisis.
A voluntary deadline set in 2010 to phase out the use of peat by amateur gardeners by 2020 has come and gone and a similar target to end peat use in the professional sector by 2030 looks set to be missed too, with peat still accounting for around 41% of the growing medium used in horticulture.
So, whilst the new consultation on banning peat composts and other products in the amateur sector is a step in the right direction, the measures proposed barely scratch the surface of the problem.
We need to bring the use of peat in horticulture to an end immediately – not wait until 2024.
The sooner we do so, the sooner we can restore these damaged habitats and get them back to storing carbon rather than emitting it.
The Wildlife Trusts ask people to show the UK and Welsh Governments that they care by taking a ‘peat free pledge’ at wildlifetrusts.org/ ban-sale-peat and also to support an immediate ban on peat-based products. Everyone is urged to check information on packaging to ensure that garden purchases are free of peat.
Details of The Government’s official consultation can be found at www.gov.uk/government/news/ government-calls-for-peat-to-bephased-out