Big Supermarkets Fail Guildford’s Peat-Free Compost Test

Published on: 23 Jun, 2021
Updated on: 28 Jun, 2021

By Hugh Coakley

Tesco and Sainsbury’s are at the bottom of the peat-free compost supply table, a survey of garden centres and supermarkets around Guildford has found.

Sales of peat compost will be banned by 2024 due to the environmental damage being caused to the rare species in peat bog habitats and the degradation of “our biggest terrestrial carbon store” say the government.

A peat bog in South Uist considered to be in good condition. It is too high and out of the way to be commercially cut for peat.

Tesco and Sainsbury’s were the only two of the fourteen retailers surveyed on May 24 by Extinction Rebellion Guildford who had no peat-free composts available for customers.

A spokesperson from Sainsbury’s said: “We’re looking into why this range was not available in Guildford and apologise for any disappointment this may have caused our customers.” A peat-free compost was available in the Burpham store on Tuesday, June 22.

Tesco told The Dragon they offer both peat and peat-free compost in selected stores based on customer demand and will be making peat-free compost available in more stores going forwards. There was no peat-free compost in their compost range in the Ashenden Road store on June 22.

Peat free compost league table from a survey carried out on May 24 2021.

Julia Shaw from Extinction Rebellion Guildford said she wanted to highlight the importance of peat bogs to the environment because: “They store more carbon in the UK than all Europe’s forests. But we are digging up around two million cubic metres of peat each year with most sold as compost to amateur gardeners.”

The majority of the peat supplied to the UK is from the Republic of Ireland (51%), with a lesser amount from Scotland (15%), Northern Ireland (14%), other EU countries (10%), and England (9%).

Peat extraction in Cumbria in 2010.

Julia said that most gardeners spoken to did not notice the difference between peat or peat-free composts. One allotment holder in Burpham said: “I’ve not noticed any difference and I’m successfully managing to grow using peat-free compost. It does have a different texture.”

Some retailers indicated they were having some difficulty sourcing the peat-free alternative. Ripley Nursery Farm Shop said they “fully endorsed the [XR] campaign to raise awareness” but added they were struggling to meet demand as “supply chains have been problematic due to lock down and post Brexit.

“We were most aggrieved with our score of 57% as we had to plug the demand with more of the peat-based compost this season simply because the peat-free composts were not available.”

Julia said she would be monitoring the Guildford stores. “No-one wants to be at the bottom of the table. It would be brilliant if they were all 100% peat-free”.

Hugh Coakley is a member of Extinction Rebellion

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