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Government publishes plan to ban peat sales by 2024
 

The Environment Secretary, George Eustice, will today speak from Delamere Forest when he will confirm that the Government will ban sales of peat products by the end of this Parliament, subject to public consultation this year.

 

In the England Peat Action plan, published this morning, George Eustace says: "In recent decades, progress has also been made in developing alternatives to the use of peat in horticulture, with the consistency of substitutes like coir improving. Peatland soils and the habitats they support should be nurtured, not mined, and this Action Plan sets out measures to accelerate the switch to the use of alternatives, starting first with bans on the sale of peat for amateur use by the end of this parliament, and gradually moving to alternatives for other commercial sectors over time."

 

The text within the plan regarding peat use in amateur and professional horticulture is as follows:

 

Future vision: horticultural peat

 

In 2011, the government set out its ambition for the horticultural sector in England to be peat free by 2030, with voluntary targets for a peat free amateur sector by 2020 and the professional sector by 2030. We note that there has been some progress by particular manufacturers, retailers and growers. For example, the UK’s soft fruit industry have successfully transitioned from using peat to coir. However, the voluntary approach has not succeeded overall; as shown by Figure 2 the total volume of peat sold in the UK is 25% lower in 2019 compared to 2011 but is still way off our ambition. The volume of peat sold in the UK rose by 9% in 2020 due to unprecedented demand throughout the year and the impact of the global pandemic on the supply chains for alternative materials. We set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan that if we had not seen sufficient movement to peat alternatives by 2020, we will look at introducing further measures. Further action is clearly required to continue to drive the transition to peat alternatives and to support the industry to overcome barriers to this transition.

 

We will formally consult on a range of potential legislative measures in 2021, as well as seeking views on the support the industry will require to make a successful transition. In particular, we will seek to make swift progress in phasing out the use of peat in the amateur sector and will be exploring a range of different types of measures that will achieve this.

 


Figure 2. Volume of peat (m3) sold in the UK between 2011 to 2019 - Growing Media Association (2021) UK Growing Media Monitor report

 

Two thirds of the peat sold in the UK is imported from the rest of Europe. This means we are effectively exporting our carbon footprint. We shall continue to focus on reducing demand for peat in horticulture, recognising the need to protect not only England’s peatland, but peatland in other countries affected by the current demand in England.

 

The UK’s amateur sector makes up ~80% of horticultural peat use. We are starting to see retailers voluntarily committing to stocking only peat-free products, and we welcome the leadership demonstrated by these retailers. Evidence suggests that consumers continue to misuse bagged peat-based products, for example using them to improve the quality of garden soil, where other products such as manure or green compost would be much more appropriate and beneficial.

 

We will work with the industry to identify how we can increase the resilience of the supply of alternative materials. Coir dust (from coconut husks), wood fibre and bark have shown great promise as replacements for peat and are included in many of the products on the market today. Sphagnum farming on lowland peatlands in England offers the opportunity to source more alternative materials within the UK as well as providing a more sustainable use of our agricultural peatlands. Therefore, the Lowland Agricultural Peat Task Force will work with the growing media industry to develop its roadmap to commercially viable paludiculture.
 
Natural England’s Peat Pilots programme recently shone a light on the practice of grass turf production on peat (which harvests thin layers of peat) and its potential impact on greenhouse gas emissions. The Great Manchester pilot estimated that there is 151.20 hectares of turf production on Chat Moss, and the East Anglian Fens pilot found several turf growers and suppliers of fen topsoil operating in the area. It has proved difficult to arrive at an estimate of the area of total turf production on peat in England and we currently have no formal emission factor for the practice. We have also identified other, less widespread, uses of peat ranging from its presence in cosmetics to its use in the English whiskey industry. These wider uses of peat require further investigation and as such our consultation will also seek to broaden our understanding of these wider considerations.

 

Actions:

We will consult on banning the sale of peat and peat containing products in the amateur sector by the end of this parliament. We will publish a full consultation in 2021 to examine the feasibility of the following measures, to end the use of horticultural peat in both the amateur and professional sectors:

●    Setting absolute deadlines to ban the sale of peat in both the amateur and professional sectors.
●    Introducing a point-of-sale charge for the purchase of growing media containing peat. This could use the plastic bag charge as a model.
●    Mandating all sellers of horticultural products containing peat, including plants, to publicly report on the volume of peat they sell each year (in bags or plant pots).
●    Issuing a call for evidence on the wider uses of peat and peat products in the retail sector; for example - grass turf production, cosmetics and industries where peat forms part of the production process.

 

We will also:

●    Continue to work with the industry to understand the implications of these proposals, identify blockages and work across government and the private sector to develop and enact solutions.
●    Work with and challenge the horticultural sector to reduce the reliance on peat in growing media and associated products in order to prepare the sector for legislation.
●    Continue to support the industry’s Responsible Sourcing Scheme for Growing Media to ensure that the environmental footprint of peat alternatives is minimised.
●    Actively promote the benefits of peat-free growing media to gardeners through public awareness and education; to help shift the demand to peat-free alternatives in advance of legislation, and to soils improvers where they are more appropriate.
●    Identify opportunities to work with the devolved administrations to develop a UK wide approach to horticultural peat and related products.

 

The England Peat Action Plan can be accessed here

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