40 years of campaigning finally sees an end to the destructive use of precious peat in gardens

On 27th August 2022, the UK Government announced its intention to ban the sale of peat to amateur gardeners by 2024.

This is excellent news.

It is understood that the ban will apply to bagged peat compost but it is not yet clear whether peat-containing products, such as plants, will also be subject to the 2024 ban.

The ban follows a public consultation which ran from December 2021 to March 2022. 95% of those who responded to the consultation were in favour of a complete retail sales ban. This marks the first occasion that any UK government has considered legislative action to tackle the use of peat in horticulture.

Nature and conservation groups have campaigned for an end to the needless destruction of one of the UK’s most precious wildlife habitats since the 1990s.

Peatlands have a global cooling effect when they are in their naturally wet state and lock away carbon from dead plants for hundreds or even thousands of years. However, when peatlands are drained and dug up for use in gardens and greenhouses, stored carbon is released in the form of CO₂ (carbon dioxide). It is estimated that peat extraction for horticulture has caused up to 31 million tonnes of CO₂ to be released since 1990.

Ailis Watt, Peat Policy Officer at the WildlifeTrusts, said:

“It is fantastic to see tangible progress on this critical issue after decades of campaigning. Using peat in gardens is bad news for our climate and leads to the destruction of beautiful wild places on which many of the UK’s rarest and most threatened species depend.

“The ban is expected to apply to around two-thirds of peat currently sold in England. What we need to see now is the Government taking action towards a total ban on peat extraction and its use in horticulture – only then can we put an end to the decline of peatlands both in the UK and further afield.”

Some uses of peat will remain legal beyond 2024 and so it is important to recognise that while the UK Government’s proposed ban targets a chunk of the UK peat market, it does not eliminate peat use entirely and nor does it directly address the issue of peat extraction.

The WildlifeTrusts are calling upon the UK Government to:

Ban the extraction and commercial trade of peat immediately

Ban all horticultural uses of peat as soon as parliamentary timeframes allow, or by 2024 at the latest

Restore all bogs damaged by the removal of peat by 2035

The importance of peatlands to our natural world has been understood for decades and awareness of the issues this special habitat faces has only increased. The UK Government’s announcement symbolises long-awaited and decisive action which will help to reverse species decline and to address the fact that a huge 4% of the UK’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions now come from degraded peatlands.

The announcement also sends a clear signal to growers and retailers that it is time to change. After target dates for the voluntary phase-out of peat were repeatedly missed, plans for a ban were first outlined by the UK Government in 2021. Retailers now have until 2024 to phase out the sale of peat ahead of the Government mandate.

However, ambition must be increased in order to bring about an end to all uses of peat with no exemptions. In doing so, the UK Government has the opportunity to embolden other nations to do the same and to demonstrate global leadership on nature and climate.

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