Government calls time on peat
The UK Government has said it wants an outright ban on peat in bagged potting compost by 2024. In an exclusive interview with GW, Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said time has run out for the horticultural industry, which last year missed a voluntary deadline to stop including peat in bags of compost. “We don’t have a natural inclination to ban things, but we’ve given the voluntary approach a good chance and it hasn’t worked,” she said.
The Government’s England Peat Action Plan proposes a public consultation this summer. As well as a ban, options include a point-of-sale charge for peat-based products, including plants. Any measures taken would not apply in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
Sales of peat-free multi-purpose compost shot up in lockdown, but the vast majority of bags sold still contain, on average, almost
50 per cent peat. Neil Bragg, of the Growing Media Association, says finding the sheer volume needed of peat alternatives, such as wood fibre and composted bark, is a big ask. “As things stand, if you took all the peat out, we could supply about three million of the five
million cubic metres of compost the public buy each year,” he said.
But Minister Pow believes the consultation will drive debate over how best to help the industry go peat-free. “There’s a feeling among gardeners that they want to move in that direction, but we have to bring the whole industry with us,” she said. The Government also says it will “work with and challenge” growers, most of whom grow their plants in peatbased compost. But Natalie Porter, of Merseyside bedding wholesalers Happy Plants, says peat-free compost is less available and costs more. “The industry is shifting rapidly towards peatfree,” she says, “but almost all plants will become significantly more expensive.”
However, ecologist Professor Dave Goulson, of Sussex University, points out that many commercial growers such as Seiont Nurseries in Wales, Devon-based Suttons and Boultons in Staffordshire already successfully grow plants without peat. “The industry has been stalling on this,” he says. “It’s probably easier and cheaper for them to carry on using peat, but it’s not easier and cheaper for the planet.”
We’ve given the voluntary approach a chance