- Ban will apply to peat sold in retail outlets in England
- Defra reveals that 95% of those who responded to its consultation were in favour of a complete retail sales ban
- Following a campaign run by The Wildlife Trusts, Defra received 5,000 consultation responses – from members of the public, NGOs, retailers, growers, extractors and manufacturers
Today, the UK Government announced its intention to ban the sale of peat to amateur gardeners by 2024. It is understood that this ban will apply to bagged peat compost, but it not yet clear whether peat-containing products, such as plants, will also be subject to a 2024 ban. The ban follows a public consultation, which ran from December 2021 to March 2022, and marks the first occasion that any UK government has considered legislative action to tackle the use of peat in horticulture.
The Wildlife Trusts, alongside key nature charities, 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).