England spearheads peat ban

Added on 29 May 2023

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Mindful of the need to protect our environment, the professional horticulture sector is continually developing more sustainable growing practices. One of the areas under the spotlight is the industry’s use of peat as a growing medium – and a controversial deadline set by England’s government will see the end of peat use in the country by 2026.

Moving away from peat
England’s Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) last year announced that all sales of peat to the amateur gardening sector will be banned in England by 2024. This spring (2023), a follow-up announcement revealed a deadline of 2026 for the end of the use of peat in the professional horticulture sector (with exemptions for plug plants and mushrooms until 2030).

This 2026 deadline came as a surprise to some. They thought they would have a bit more time than that because, in 2018, Defra had stated in its 25-year environment plan its intention to end peat use in horticultural products by 2030.

Meanwhile, the UK’s Scottish and Welsh Governments have also signalled their intention to ban the sale of horticultural peat. Many other European countries are also actively restoring and preserving their peatlands and moving away from using peat in the horticulture sector.

The Netherlands, for example, signed a covenant at the end of last year (2022) that pledged to initially achieve greater use of renewable raw materials, to double the use of compost, and to only use 100% responsibly-extracted peat for peat raw materials by 2025.