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Scotts

Scotts - a garden product
multinational - are bagging
our precious peat bogs and
selling them to unsuspecting
gardeners as compost.

Why are peat bogs so important?

Campaigners calling for an end to peat cutting on Thorne Moor
Image Friends of the Earth

Peat bogs are seen by some as the UK's rainforests and they are important for three main reasons -

• Rare wildlife
  Many rare species of plants and animals like the Great Sundew - the UK's largest carnivious plant - are only found in peat bogs
• Archaelogy
  Acidic conditions means that decay hardly takes place. The result - a social and environmental record dating back 10,000 years
• Global cooling
  Peat bogs remove CO2 from the atmosphere and help fight climate change

Bagging and selling the UK's rainforests

Scotts are responsible for over 60% of commercial peat extraction in the UK.

Last year, the UK Government gave Special Area of Conservation status to our three largest peatbogs. But Scotts is still continuing to mine peat from them.

We're turning dirt into dollars

Chuck Berger - CEO of Scotts

Scotts is selling a peat based multipurpose compost under the name of "Miracle-Gro".

 

 

Miracle-Gro? With so much beautiful wildlife and habitat destroyed for the production of each bag it's more like Miracle-Gone!

Press for change

• Don't buy it
  Friends of the Earth is asking gardeners everywhere not to buy Miracle-Gro and to use peat-free alternatives instead
• Ask your garden centre not to stock it Some like B&Q have already said they won't sell it. Ask your garden centre if they'll do the same.

Resource

US Corporation Still Taking the Peat
(PDF) August 2001
Briefing on Scotts and peat extraction.

Last chance to see...?
July 2001
An introduction to peatlands and the problems facing them.

†To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.

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