Minister for Environment Visits Evergreen Garden Care To Discuss Peat Ban

The Minister for Environment, Rebecca Pow, visited the Evergreen Garden Care factory in Hatfield this week to discuss Evergreen Garden Care’s commitment to their peat free target and the challenges businesses may face when transitioning to peat free. 

As the UK’s leading garden care company, Evergreen Garden Care places sustainability at the front and centre of their business and is committed to reducing the environmental impact the company has. In 2021, Evergreen Garden Care made a public commitment to switch all their products to peat free in under four years and have continued with their investment and innovation towards peat free products. Protecting peatlands is one of the most important natural ways of tackling climate change, as these special landscapes store carbon, control flooding and create homes for wildlife. 

The UK Government is currently consulting on a proposed ban on the sale of peat and peat containing products in the amateur and professional horticultural sectors by 2024 and 2028 respectively. Any ban will apply to domestic and imported peat, alike. The consultation, which is open for responses until 18 March, also seeks views on other potential measures. These include introducing point of sale measures for bagged growing media containing peat, such as charges, mandatory labelling and educational material detailing the environmental reasons for eschewing products containing peat; mandatory reporting of the volume of peat sold for all sellers of peat and peat containing products; and potential, strictly enforced exemptions to the proposed ban. 

In light of the Government’s ongoing consultation, Evergreen Garden Care shared their insights with Rebecca Pow on the challenges of rapidly transitioning to peat free. The discussion covered important topics to consider, such as the industry-wide need of access to a greater quantity and quality of alternative materials and policy barriers which the wider industry needs the Government to unlock to be able to implement these transitions.

Evergreen Garden Care has invested £7 million this year in order to increase their peat free production capacity - cementing their position as leading the peat free roadmap but demonstrating the scale of investment required by manufacturers due to the different handling requirements of raw materials in peat free mixes. 

Evergreen Garden Care Managing Director, Mark Portman, says “As a business, we are committed to working towards the target to be peat free, however we understand that this is a journey and will be a challenge for the industry without access to greater quantity and quality of alternative materials. There are many practical issues in making the switch that must first be considered and supported. 

“Among other considerations, there are policy barriers the industry needs the Government to unlock to be able to access the necessary materials. We need to talk about how waste materials are defined, green waste quality and quantity, and import restrictions on bark.”

Evergreen Garden Care boasts a vast range of newly launched peat free products for 2021 and is a key member to all official bodies driving the peat free future. The investment will increase the brand’s production capacity, in terms of research and development as well as storage capacity.

The investment and innovation in peat free products comes in response to the increased consumer demand for environmentally sustainable garden care products, in particular a demand for alternatives to peat. GfK data from January to September 2020 showed that the trend for peat free accelerated 74.9% YOY, with peat free worth £1 in every £7 spent in the category. This combined with the government ban on peat free by 2024 indicates a worthy investment with forecasts of strong peat free sales performance in the future.

Evergreen Garden Care spoke with the minister to provide an insight into the challenges faced with the move to peat free. Evergreen Garden Care aimed to take Rebecca Pow along their business journey to going peat free and show some of the hurdles that need to be overcome to meet the Government’s proposal for a peat-ban by 2024.

Mark said: “It was a pleasure to host Rebecca Pow at our site today and be able to have and open discussion about both our move peat free as well as the wider industry move to peat free. We were able to demonstrate the progress made as well as the hurdles still to overcome. Above all to show our commitment to going peat free and the efforts we are putting in to reach our peat free target.” 

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said: “The wider horticultural industry is making great strides towards reducing the use of peat in growing media. However, we recognise that for some sectors of the industry there are challenges in terms of sourcing materials to make the transition to peat free growing. 

“Engaging with valued stakeholders in the retail sector and the Horticultural Trades Association will inform the Government’s approach on this important issue moving forward. Our consultation, which closes on 18 March, will also improve our understanding of the challenges they face – so together, we can protect peatlands, cut carbon emissions and safeguard our environment for generations to come.” 

James Barnes, Chairman of the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) said: “This £7m investment by Evergreen Garden Care is good news for the horticulture industry and the environment. It’s an example of the great work that many of our compost manufacturer members are making to go peat free. 

“With the volume and rate of peat use at an all-time low, the whole industry is pulling together to meet the 2025-2028 peat removal in retail timeline we committed to. All a 2024 ban does is set the industry up to fail. The Government needs to work with us to unlock the regulatory barriers that are stopping us from accessing the quantity and range of alternative materials to peat that we vitally need.”

Source : Evergreen Garden Care

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