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Government urges the phasing out of peat

The British Association of Landscape Industries (Bali) has welcomed the government’s call to phase out peat in compost material within a decade.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn made the call as part of the new campaign Act on CO2. The phase out means that gardening centres and DIY stores would cease to sell peat-based composts for the amateur gardening and switch to peat-free alternatives.

The Act on CO2 campaign targets amateur gardeners who use around 70 per cent of all peat consumed in horticulture, a government statement said.

The campaign focuses on raising awareness of the environmental impacts associated with peat and promoting a switch to peat-free alternatives in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and protect the valuable biodiversity and wildlife of lowland raised bogs from which peat is extracted for horticulture use.

It is a step in the right direction, said Neil Huck, technical director of Bali that for the past five years has seen its members move in that direction. “A lot of landscape firms are using peat-free compost now as part of the overall sustainability drive,” he told FM World.

Peat free alternatives use bark, green compost, wood waste and wood fibre and the coconut derivative coir. “Prices are about the same but a lot of peat-free compost uses recycled food waste, the same waste as from the household recycling green bins,” said Huck.

A lot of large clients are calling for sustainable supply chains and that includes looking at what products are used by their landscape contractors, said Huck who is also senior contracts manager at landscape provider Ground Control. Their clients include major supermarket chains such as Asda, Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury as well as utilities firms including Anglian Water and Thames Water. All call for peat-free compost.

Buyer and users of peat-free material should also be aware of quality issues over peat-free compost. They should look for the UK’s PAS 100 compliance, meaning they are free of contaminants such as heavy metals, especially cadmium which will have come from discarded batteries.

Bali works with many small to medium size landscape companies to help them put together affordable sustainability programmes similar to the environmental standard ISO 14001

Benn launched the Act on CO2 campaign at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, just outside London. He said significant progress has been made over the past few years to reduce the horticultural use of peat, in response to the government target for 90 per cent of the total market for growing media and soil conditioners to be peat free by the end of 2010.

However, only 54 per cent of the total market is now peat free.

More information on Defra’s Act on CO2 Peat-Free campaign and to view a video of celebrity gardener Diarmuid Gavin explaining the benefits of peat-free compost visit www.direct.gov.uk/buyingcompost.

The Act on CO2 Peat Free campaign is part of the world-wide UN International Year of Biodiversity 2010 celebrations. For information on International Year of Biodiversity events, initiatives and exhibitions across the UK visit www.biodiversityislife.net.

This article was also featured on http://www.fm-world.co.uk