The Wildlife Trusts and recognised voices in the sector are urging the UK government to seize a final chance to ban sales of peat products ahead of the next general election, as promised.
The opportunity to pass legislation comes via the new Horticultural Peat Private Members Bill to be debated in the House of Commons today, Tuesday 16th April, proposed by former environment secretary Theresa Villiers.
Presently, the sale of peat compost and peat-containing products remains legal in the UK. The UK government has pledged a ban by the end of this parliament in 2024.
Peat extraction-scarred Little Woolden Moss by Alan Wright
TV presenter and gardening expert, Monty Don argues that the continued use of peat today, following decades of warnings, is “lazy and irresponsible.”
He goes on to say: “It takes a bulldozer minutes to destroy a peat bog that took hundreds if not thousands of years to form and will take as long again to recover.”
Adding that there are other, more effective, methods outside of using peat, stating that the “most common reason given for buying peat is because it is cheap”, stating that it is “out and out eco-vandalism.”
Vice-president of The Wildlife Trusts, Iolo Williams, adds: “Peatlands have the power to help lock up carbon, alleviate flooding and help wildlife recover – so why on earth are we still allowing them to be dug-up? It has to stop!”
In 2022, The Wildlife Trusts published an analysis that revealed the policy failures to stop peat extraction has caused up to 31 million tonnes of CO2 to be released since 1990, when the campaign to stop peat extraction took off.
we use peat and have tried the substitute and its rubbish and my opinion of monty do has now changed we grow big trees and wont stop using peat