Tomorrow, the horticultural industry gathers in Birmingham at the Glee international garden show, with the major high street retailers deciding how and what we will grow in our gardens next year. Yet among the commercial bustle, there remains a deafening silence that shames this £5bn business and our national passion – why is peat still being used in our gardens?
The importance of our remaining peatlands to people and planet is hard to overstate. They are the unrivalled kings of carbon storage. Known peatlands cover about 3% of the world’s land surface yet store twice as much carbon as all of Earth’s standing forest and provide a haven to unique wildlife – from threatened wild flowers through dragonflies to curlews. Yet 2m cubic metres of peat are sold annually for us to plant begonias and tomatoes.
There is growing demand for peat-free alternatives: a 2017 survey conducted by Plantlife, Friends of the Earth, RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts established that consumers are crying out for peat-free products, yet a third of respondents couldn’t find peat-free compost clearly available. And sales of peat are still increasing despite the looming 2020 government ban.
Carbon-rich peat, dating back millennia and growing at a rate of only 1mm a year, makes up over half of the compost sold every year in the UK. The government needs to give a shot of adrenalin to its commitment to phase out peat and support the industry to divest away from peat and keep what remains safely protected in the ground not the grow bag.
Martin Harper Director, Global Conservation, RSPB
Stephanie Hilborne CEO, Wildlife Trusts
Ben McCarthy Director of strategy, Plantlife
Paul de Zylva Senior nature campaigner, Friends of the Earth
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