Peat Compost Ban

Should we ban the use of peat compost?  

The first major move toward a peat compost ban was back in 2010 when the UK Government began a consultation process to achieve the voluntary phase-out of peat by 2020. The process failed to phase out peat use. With the transition into the ‘climate emergency’ status and the realisation that the loss of peat bogs is making things worse, in March 2021, the Government moved to consult on a peat ban from 2024.  

We are now seeing the ‘for’ and ‘against’ camps of the debate becoming ‘entrenched’ (that’s putting it politely - see links below to Bunny Guinness's blog).  On the one side we have the ‘ban all peat now’ and on the other side ‘do not ban it, it is essential for horticulture’.  In this article, we are taking horticulture to mean the plants grown for the garden centre more than it means food crops such as tomatoes.  

Putting my neutral ‘problem analysis’ hat on, I find that there are subtleties both for and against that are being missed in the debate. 

What is the scale (tonnage) of peat compost extraction and use in the UK? 

About 4 million cubic metres of growing media are used each year in the UK. About 2.4 million cubic metres of that is peat, the rest is alternatives like coir and wood fibre).  80% of the peat is used by domestic gardeners and 20% by professional growers. (Ref IUCN 2022, UK peatland programme).   The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) also has a good fact sheet on peat:  

It should be noted we are looking at peat extraction and use in gardening and horticulture. There is an awful lot more total peat loss if we include agriculture where bogs are drained to grow crops. 

How do we visualise 2.4 million cubic metres of peat?  

A large artic lorry can carry 60m3. So that’s  40,000 artic lorry loads a year!   

Another view: it is enough peat to cover 1,000 football fields with a 30cm deep layer of peat – that’s covering every pitch (from schools right through to the Premier League) every year. 

How much carbon does peat contribute to climate change? 

These figures are always challenging to get right, but a rough approximation: peat is 50% carbon. Converting to CO2 is an x3.66 factor. Calculation: 2.4m tpa*0.5*3.66 = 5m tonnes per annum of CO2 released a year.     

Will a peat compost ban work? 

Banning anything often has unforeseen consequences, and often bans do not work.  

The stick (penalties) and carrot (rewards) system generally seems to get better results. (The stick and carrot method is not without pitfalls, but look at the various renewable energy incentives (carrots) as evidence for the key reason for investment and growth in wind, solar and anaerobic digestion capacity and the landfill tax (stick) that has diverted huge tonnage of waste from landfill and into recycling. (We can also see the negative – ROCs in Ireland were abused and resulted in wasted wood resources.) 

Should we ban peat compost use? 

I make a clear distinction between peat compost which is added to soil to help improve it and peat compost used as a growing media (which includes seedlings, potting up and horticultural plants in containers). With this distinction in place: 

My personal view is: 

• Ban all retail peat sales to domestic (home) users where the peat is used for soil improvement. This ban would include the sale of “all-purpose” composts with peat in.   Rationale: there are technically better substitutes (i.e. compost - see definition at the end) and the environmental argument on carbon/climate change is overwhelming against extraction and use of peat for soil improvement. 
• Allow the sale of peat (to both retail/domestic and horticultural users) where the peat is specifically labelled as “seed growing media” and/or “potting growing media”.  

But! 

• Tax all peat compost sales based on the environmental carbon impact. Example: 1Kg dry peat = 0.5 Kg carbon x3.66 = 1.8t CO2e. CO2 trades/ is taxed at between £20-120/t CO2e. For our example let’s assume a trade value of £80/t CO2e.  A typical bag of peat weighs 15Kg, so that works out at +£1.20 per bag carbon tax or about 20-30% increase on £5 bag. 
• Rationale: peat for seedlings and container gardening is not just about finding a high performing alternative (we have many alternatives).  Economics are a HUGE part of the reason that peat is still used. Peat costs £10-£30/m3 and sells for £20-60/m3. It is the lowest cost media to bag, transport and use for growing media.  Suppliers cannot afford to be the ‘first’ to switch to a more expensive alternative mix unless all their competitors also switch at the same time. With a carbon tax, everyone gets a price increase, and it brings the price much closer to peat alternatives. Just like Landfill tax, peat taxes should be used to fund beneficial projects – in this case, refining alternatives to peat. It does not need to be a massive tax bureaucracy – the tax is collected only at the point of production.  

Why is peat compost important? 

The honest answer is that until the climate debate was moved to ‘emergency’ status and the true impact of peat as a carbon sink was fully understood peat was not seen as that important. It was just a cheap and plentiful resource that makes a great seed/potting growing media. 

The latest estimates indicate peatlands store half a trillion tonnes of carbon; this is twice as much as is stored in the world’s forests. In the UK alone, peatlands hold more than three billion tonnes of carbon although little of it is still in its natural state. Peatlands also provide important habitat for many species of plants and animals and play a critical role in reducing flooding. 

Peatlands grow from the slow accumulation of dead plant material in wet terrestrial habitats and take an incredibly long time to form (the estimate usually quoted is 1m/1000 years, i.e. 1mm/year). When the peat is extracted or damaged, the stored carbon that has built up over centuries is released into the atmosphere. Because of this, the UK’s peatlands are now acting as a net carbon source, rather than an environmentally critical store. 

There are numerous “for” and “against” blog campaigns running. We don’t want to cover all the arguments, but you can track some as follows 

AGAINST PEAT compost ban campaigns 

• Horticulture veterans call for more open debate on peat, December 21 2021, by George Bullivant 
• For Peat's sake don’t ban peat - Bunny Guinness explains her reasons for opposing the UK Government's current proposal to ban peat in retail compost by 2024. 

 The BAN PEAT compost campaigns 

• Say No to Peat Compost - The Wildlife Trust
• Ban the use of peat-based composts, NHBS conservation, Professor Dave Goulson, has called upon the government to ban the use of peat in garden compost by the end of 2021. 
• Peat Free April - Peatfree.org.uk
• For Peat's Sake campaign | Garden Organic 

Why is peat so useful as a growing media: peat properties 

Peat is very useful as a growing media (noting again the distinction between growing media and soil improver.) The table below reviews the properties and offers an opinion on the ability to find alternatives.

Can peat compost properties be replicated in alternatives? 

Despite the pro-peat lobbying that claims 'peat has no technical performance equal', I find no valid case for keeping peat based on its technical capabilities. I surmise there are many alternatives, however, adopting them has been slow due to the low cost of peat. Horticulture is highly competitive, working on tiny profit margins. If a supplier changes formulation and makes the blend more expensive, they lose business. The whole industry has to move together. (This favours either a total ban or a tax as this is applied to all)  

What are the main peat compost alternatives for growing media? 

The most significant peat-growing media substitute to date is coir (i.e. coco fibre from the coconut husk/shell). There are then a number of ‘blended’ media. Some suppliers have cracked it and have robust peat-free growing media. Look out for ‘peat free’ blends – unless it says peat-free, it will have a % of peat – it might be as little as 10%, or as much as 75%!  

Our recommendation 

• Buy peat-free seedling germination growing media 
• Buy peat-free potting and container mix growing media 
• Look out for our new SF40 - peat-free, multi-purpose compost

What are the potential issues with coir as a peat compost substitute? 

Coir fibre all comes from Asia so ‘carbon miles’ are the first issue. Coir is baled and compressed dry before bulk cargo shipping. The carbon miles issue is perhaps not as bad as first imagined and probably no worse than peat trucked from Eastern Europe. (Let us know if you have facts on the topic). 

Perhaps the bigger issue is how and where the coconut trees are grown. Just as the explosion in palm shell oil (it is used in thousands of foods and other products) led to the destruction of rainforests to be replanted with palm trees. The explosion in coconut milk has led to the planting of many cocoa trees. As with most things, if it is done in a robust sustainable way it can work (they are highly productive trees), but all too often it is done badly (mass deforestation replanted with monoculture) driven by greed for profit which has a very detrimental effect on the environment. 

Most growing media suppliers are acutely aware that moving from peat to coir might be ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’ and will have taken the necessary checks to ensure ethical sourcing of coir. Others, unfortunately, will buy cheap coir to replace cheap peat to ‘fudge’ it and keep the profits coming in.  (Perhaps we need an FSC certification for coir?). Only you the consumer can change your behaviour which will then change supplier behaviour.  

Peat alternatives for soil improvement  

The gardening and horticulture sector still has not fully sorted out labelling and the use of the term “compost” versus “growing media”, and specifically “all-purpose compost”. 

Compost is a solid particulate material that comes from the composting process. Compost is sanitised and stabilised so that the compost confers beneficial effects when added to soil, is used as a component of a growing medium, or is used in another way in conjunction with plants.  Compost is a fantastic soil improver. It adds a slow-release fertiliser to the soil. It adds a bulking agent to help with root drainage and aeration. It adds humus that glues soil particles into the loamy crumb. It stores water. 

Composting:  a process of controlled biological decomposition of biodegradable materials under managed conditions that are predominantly aerobic, and which allow the development of thermophilic temperatures as a result of biologically produced heat. Composting on a large scale (e.g. via a regional composting recycling centre) is managed and tested to strict conditions (BSI PAS100)

Growing media is a replacement for soil. It is specifically designed to germinate seedlings (mix 1) or designed for onward potting and container growth (mix 2). They have formulated blends of materials to give a balanced set of properties. 

 Recommendation: 

• The alternative to peat for soil improvement is compost or compost / biochar mixes. 
• Please do not add ‘all-purpose’ compost to your soil unless it says “100% peat-free”.
• Where possible buy and use PAS100 compost or mixes of PAS100 and biochar or biochar supper compost. (links)   

Biochar has excellent properties - incorporating it into peat-free compost mixes helps to increase water retention and aeration. Read more about water retention and soil additives that help improve at our water retention blog 

Simply mix biochar into compost and leave it to do its thing.  Biochar is a form of horticultural charcoal, which is made by heating wood in the absence of oxygen in a process called pyrolysis. SoilFixer biochar is made to the highest standards and from sustainable resources using environmentally clean processes. 

In addition to excellent water retaining properties, it helps increase nutrient supply to the roots of plants, decreases nutrient runoff, improves soil tilth and has many more benefits to gardeners which you can find out about here. 

Biochar also sequesters (locks) carbon in the soil and is thus beneficial in our work to mitigate climate change by reducing CO2.   

Where does Biochar Multi-purpose Compost (SF40) fit in? 

We have formulated our mix as a ready-to-use mix for containers and raised beds. It has the optimum ratio of humus and biochar so adds more aggregation, aeration and drainage.  Ready to use for planting containers, raised beds etc.

You can create your own version of SF40 and/or Terra Preta by modifying your compost process by adding the biochar compost humification agent and then mixing the biochar compost with your soil. For more info, please review our how to create the perfect Terra Preta “topsoil”.  

Try SF40 in your garden.

Why has compost not replaced peat as the soil improver of choice for home gardeners? 

(A reminder… we have a distinction between soil improvement media and a growing media/substrate).  It is our belief that the main reason why so much peat is still used in domestic gardens is down to labelling and education. 

It is time for mandatory labelling with exclusive use of the term “compost” to mean a man-made soil improver made from green plant resources. Overnight all sales of compost are immediately peat-free!  

All seedling and potting growing media should be labelled as Growing Media (not compost, all-purpose compost, peat-free compost, or peat reduced compost). On the back of the packet, growing media should have an ingredient list including the % of peat used (if any).  

Compost will then rightly take its place as the best and only relevant soil improver. No one will bat an eye that they cannot buy ‘all-purpose compost’ to be spread on garden soil!